Baudwalking
Missing in Aruba: a special report
by Tom Sundstrom, W2XQ
Ed Note: Once in a while a relatively obscure country will dominate the news (unfortunately, usually bad news) and this presents a unique opportunity to learn. It's possible to not only get background on the country from our media, but we can get a glimpse of how that country views us and our media, by tuning in to their media outlets.
The serenity of a peaceful Caribbean island country 90 miles (145 kilometers) off the coast of Venezuela was shattered on May 30, 2005, when 18-year old Natalee Holloway disappeared from public view. Holloway disappeared the same day she was to return from a five-day trip with 124 (another report has a count of 133) other students celebrating their graduation from high school in Mountain Brook, Alabama.
Although the island is relatively small -- Aruba is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) long and 6 miles (10 kilometers) wide, slightly larger than Washington D.C. -- the coastal and water searches are, according to authorities, too vast to pursue without some jumping off points. The western side of Aruba, according to television news reports, has strong ocean currents and a rocky coastline that makes searches difficult. Portions of the eastern side is uninhabited, covered by large areas of cacti and shrubs. Land searches have failed to turn up any trace of Holloway.
This report was sent off to the MT editor three weeks after the story broke; four males are in jail while investigations are ongoing. The current USA media coverage is intense and mind-boggling, and the Aruban legal system is having a time of it dealing with the exuberant press wanting to know every little detail.
I had expected that this story would be quickly solved and the USA press attention would diminish as the sensationalism fades over time and actions slow to a crawl in the stupefying court room testimony. Judging by the 24-hour cable news channel coverage, a high level of interest may last longer than I first thought.
I plowed through our resources and recommend these Web sites for your review and use.
Home in the USA
Mountain Brook, a 12-square mile community with a population of approximate 21,000, is on the south-east side of Birmingham in Jefferson County, Alabama. The demographics suggest that Mountain Brook is a bedroom community. The local newspapers are three:
Birmingham News - www.al.com/birminghamnews
Birmingham Times - www.thebirminghamtimes.com
Birmingham Post-Herald - www.postherald.com
In my opinion, the Birmingham News offers the best coverage on the story. A photo gallery grows in size each day as new photos arrive at the editor's desk. Your mileage may vary.
There are two FM broadcasters in the Birmingham area but both are public non-profits programming mostly classical music. I wonder if there is an occasional talk show that might have news features from time to time. Take a look at WBHM (www.wbhm.org) and WUAL (wual.publicbroadcasting.net)... just in case.
An island in the Caribbean
About 1900 miles (3000 kilometers) to the southeast of Birmingham, Aruba’s lifeblood primarily depends upon tourist dollars. (Other island income is from oil refineries and transshipping.) The police are not used to the media scrutiny and taking slow but sure steps so as not to jeopardize the case.
There appears to be just three English language newspapers in Aruba, but only two show in the search engines.
Amigoe, a Dutch language Antillean newspaper, is one of the largest newspapers in the region. A Web version in English can be read on line at www.amigoe.com/english/. Surprisingly, the paper is not kept up to date. On June 23, the last update was June 21. The Holloway story focused on no hotel cancellations due to the events, and “the winter season looks very good.”
The better paper, in my opinion, is the Web-based PDF “Aruba Today” posted at www.arubatoday.com six days a week. A month’s archives are also available. The stories are, in my opinion, well-written and tell the Aruban version of the events. You will need the current version of the Adobe Reader from adobe.com.
I found another daily (except Sunday) newspaper not inventoried in the search engines. This 7-page document is called “amAruba”, published in English, and is available in PDF form for download or by e-mail subscription from www.aruba.com. A June 22 full-page “Comment” by Steve Yahas put a completely different spin on the story, and it was not mentioned on any USA media that I saw. The title? “Aruba: Natalee Holloway Would Have Been a One Day Story If Her Name was Lateefah.” Dial up this government Web site and have a read. (Another quasi-government Website is the Aruba Chamber of Commerce at www.arubachamber.com.)
Aruba has a number of stations streaming audio onto the ‘net. It seems to us that most of the programming is non-stop popular music. I haven’t the news broadcasts yet.
Canal 90 (http://www.canal90fm.aw/) http://landronchi.setarnet.aw:8080/ramgen/encoder/Canal90live.rm
Hit 94 (http://www.hit94fm.com/) http://209.88.129.57:8080/ramgen/encoder/Live94.rm
Magic 96 (http://magic965.com/) http://landronchi.setarnet.aw:8080/ramgen/encoder/Magiclive.rm
Radio Galactica 99.9 (http://www.galactica999fm.aw/) http://landronchi.setarnet.aw:8080/ramgen/encoder/galacticafm.rm
Radio Revolucion 88.9 (http://www.revo88.9.aw/) http://209.88.129.57:8080/ramgen/encoder/top95.rm
Top 95.1 (http://www.top95fm.aw/) http://209.88.129.57:8080/ramgen/encoder/top95.rm
Telearuba (http://www.telearuba.aw/) was airing CNN in Spanish during the weekday that I found the video. Midday programming was CNN in Spanish. The video was streaming at 225Kbps into the RealPlayer; the picture was excellent.
Other media sources that show or tell a bit of the island include:
Aruba Buzz hosts Rona Costa, who writes a weekly column called Bati Bleki, wrote an interesting piece called “Monday Morning Quarterbacking” in which she pokes a stick into the theory cage and lets it bang around. (How about a jealous boyfriend who saw Natalie with the island boy, but is now back home while Aruba is being taken apart?) (Was there a late night swim party and did the girl drown?) Costa did not have so very nice things to say about Fox and CNN either. Follow her writings at http://batibleki.visitaruba.com/dynamic/servlet/BatiBleki and see what develops.
Aruba TV (www.aruba.tv) has a number of Quicktime, Flash and Windows Media Player files for viewing on line. These are not news items, but offer views of the island country: history, underwater tours, sailing and land tours, sports and weather.
The purpose of this special report was to give you, the reader, a quick overview of the media sources on Aruba. Eventually the USA-based resources will be reassigned, and the Aruban media will be left to cover the story as the legal charges wind through the court system. In all of this mess, we can only hope that Natalie Holloway is still alive.
Questions or comments or feedback? Please write tomsundstrom@monitoringtimes.com and tell me what you found.
23 June 2005