| Today's topic: Doesn't this say journalistic ethics and professionalism are lacking? Sunday evening. The phone in the car rings. It is picked up and held to the ear.
"Hello!"
"Where are you?"
"On the road."
"You have to get back home. There's an interesting documentary on TV 3 in half an hour. It's from NZ TV ONE."
"What is it about?"
"Gang culture, gun smuggling, drug trafficking in Samoa. It's sickening." "Who's doing the feature?"
"You know Barbara Dreaver? The reporter who was kicked out of Fiji?"
"Yeah."
"She's the one doing the interview. You don't want to miss it. I feel like leaving this country and never look back."
"Alright. Thank you."
Now the car slows down as it moves to the road side and makes a U-turn. The "sickening documentary" is on at half an hour, it is dark and drizzling outside and the potholes on the road are merciless.
Arriving home Dreaver's famous face is already on the screen. She is facing a hooded human head completely covered by a black wraparound, with small slots for the eyes and the nose, and the head is speaking.
Where the mouth should be the cloth is making slight movements as the words come through muffled and hard.
They are describing a gang culture of guns and drugs in paradise as Dreaver is listening. She has yet to say a word. The camera moves to a stack of guns; young men are brandishing some of them.
The words from the hooded head are in English; the way they are spoken suggests the face behind the mask belongs to a man who knows his English well. It seems obvious he has spent some time abroad.
Now the camera zeroes in on a man who says he is a tattooist and a victim of American racism. Although he is Samoan, he does not know much about Samoa. But in America he got into trouble with the law and they deported him to Paradise.
The manner of his deportation however is riddled with skepticism.
He tells Dreaver he was flown to Samoa where on arrival at Faleolo Airport, they just dumped him there. He does not say who the "they" he is referring to are.
But there he is landing on foreign soil and he is wandering around not knowing where to go. Stranded in Paradise he has neither family nor home. A Samoan without a family or home in Samoa? Odd!
Today however he is quite happy eking out a living putting tattoos on people's skin. It is as if inflicting pain on others relieves him of his own suffering.
Now the camera shifts onto perhaps the documentary's most despicable scene; it is of young men brandishing their deadly machetes before Deaver and her film crew.
The images are so disgusting you feel like running outside and bury your head in the mud; they conjure up thoughts impossible to translate into words.
Still, the scenes arouse the suspicion this is a script meant to be acted as in a movie.
In any case, that is Sunday evening, 5 April 2009, in Samoa.
Now let's skip back about a week earlier to Tuesday, 24 March 2009 at 3:48:45 p.m., over there in New Zealand.
That is when Barbara Dreaver sends an email to her "mate" Ermehn Loto Sakaria of Pride Security. Dreaver's email says:
"Hi mate
The agent is booking us to go this coming Monday morning (30th march) which gets us to Samoa on Sunday morning.
We are coming back Wednesday morning (Samoa time) arriving back in Auckland on Thursday around midday.
So we can either do the interview on Monday or Tuesday Samoan time. I need to know which as I will be setting something else up for the other free day so could you let me know ASAP.
I have asked travel agent to make sure we can get our rental cars on Sunday so you can set things up on the Sunday afternoon if you like. If we do iv and filming with the guys on Monday, that leaves you Tuesday free for example."
And so it emerges that there indeed was a plan. It also appears that Dreaver's "mate" is the organiser for the "guys" to get hooded up, have those machine guns oiled up, machetes sharpened, and be prepared to become famous.
He was to tell them they were going to be act ing in a movie so they should give their best performance ever; which includes making the machetes look most deadly. Who knows? They may end up going all the way to Hollywood.
As for the script, that's Dreaver's job. She's good at it too. She writes:
"Below are the sorts of questions I want to ask. There may be some they can't/don't want to answer. That's sweet. I would rather they just don't answer something than lie about. We want to accurately represent them. Also answers must not be memorized or written down otherwise it will come across as rehearsed and a bit odd. The questions are just to give an idea of what I want to ask – its all I can think of at this stage there may be more or less."
So there you are. Wonderfully methodical. This kid deserves a medal. Don't you think her use of the words "That's sweet" is fantastic?
Now put everything down and read Dreaver's questions:
- Tell me about the gang culture in Samoa – eg: how many, traditional, gang colours etc or more casual
- Is there any conflict/problems between Samoan gangs, or do they leave each other alone?
- Background of the guys in this gang – where from? Involved with gangs overseas? why in Samoa?
- NZ connections?
- Why have you guys got together in Samoa?
- Types of activities you guys deal with? Legit and otherwise
- Why do you bring in weapons?
- Is this a fairly new trend or have weapons been smuggled in for years?
- Where do they come from eg: gang connections in the US? (the answers does not have to be detailed if its going to compromise their position)
- How hard is it to bring weapons in?
- How many would you bring in every month?
- Types of weapons – demonstrate – how much are they sold for?
- Types of people who buy these guns and why?
- How many approx have you sold? Since when? Are sales increasing?
- Is there a market for smuggled guns in NZ? Are any of your guns finding their way to NZ?
- Have the Samoan police put any pressure on you guys? How corrupt is the police?
Cheer Barb.
But remember "guys"! Don't memorise those answers. They don't come through well if they were. Just answer the questions point black and brisk. Good teacher Barb. She sure knows a bit about trigger-jabbing questions.
But what are these "gang cultures" she's talking about. What if we tell her there is no such thing as a "gang culture" in Samoa. Who told her about these things anyway? Her "mate" Ermehn Loto Sakaria perhaps?
We admit there are drugs-and-guns-related problems here but then every country has them. Since Samoa is not isolated from the rest of the world, it is not quarantined from the ills caused by drugs and guns.
As for machetes, they are very useful, everyday tools. Every family has a number of them. They are used to fell trees, clear the bush for plantations, cut copra, gather firewood, build houses, prepare food.
Indeed the Samoan home is handicapped without machetes. They are everyone's best helper which is why you see them everywhere. Sharpened to make them most effective, they are never intended to be used as weapons.
The idea then – as Dreaver's documentary seems to be trying to convey – that machetes are being used by Samoan gang members as weapons is preposterous. Nothing is furthest from the truth.
What her correspondence did not disclose is that she and her crew had come to Samoa with the explicit intention of shooting a video they would later sell. They did that around town.
Later when they wanted images of men brandishing machetes, they were taken to a home where young men were building a house. Asked to pose for the camera, the men obliged. Later when those images appeared on TV, the men were horrified. They later apologised publicly saying they had been tricked.
When you invent the uninventable then try and make it real you end up making a fool of yourself. Doesn't this say journalistic ethics and professionalism are lacking? And yet NZ TV ONE has retaliated saying they were sticking to their story? Tell us what you think.
Have a peaceful Sunday Samoa, God bless. Young Samoan in TVNZ gang and guns story says it was all staged Tuesday, 07 April 2009 11:04 Lance Polu APIA: Tuesday 7 April: The Samoan Police has identified and questioned one of the young men featured in an explosive TVNZ report this week about drugs, guns and gang fare. The young man, Vaitagutu Pulega who is under Police investigation, admitted that what they were smoking on the TVNZ footage used in the news report by Barbara Dreaver, was the pocket edition and not marijuana. The footage was staged, according to the young man. Vaitagutu said, that they were told by the TVNZ Reporter that the 'film' was about gangs. "She never said that it was about drugs," said Vaitagutu. The story has prompted mixed reactions locally and a negative image of Samoa overseas with Samoan relatives calling on Monday night this week when the story was aired and queried about what was happening. Some have expressed their dismay about they have seen. Another young man with his face covered on the footage and who spoke with an English accent said that he was well connected in Samoa and spoke about guns smuggling for sale locally and the funds going to buy more guns from the US. The Police Commissioner, Papali'i Lorenese Neru said the Police are investigating the matter in collaboration with US, Australian and NZ Police. Papali'i said they will arrest those who blatantly displayed arms and smoked joints on television. He says that the Police are taking the matter seriously. The man featured in the news item apologised to the Samoan people, and said he did not think that the images were going to be portrayed in such a negative way. |
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