Aruba Truth; John Pauly, Media Adviser, Speaks Out About Aruba Media Coverage

Aruba Truth has come out with an article on the media’s coverage of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway that would appear hardly helpful in the PR battle that they wage for the Aruban government. As Aruba Truth states in a somewhat interesting question as to the conduct of the media, many have also wondered why this Task Force does not also question the investigation of the Natalee Holloway investigation as even their own Prime Minister has admitted mistakes were made. Today’s criticism is as follows:

As coverage continues with little to no development or new evidence against the primary suspects have questioned how members of the media have conducted themselves.

Now for a big surprise John Pauly, a media advisor to the Aruba Task Force, conducts an interview as to his experiences with the main stream media. Did I mention he was the media advisor to the Aruba Task Force?

“The media was just running wild down there,” said Pauly in a telephone interview from his Philadelphia home. “This little country has never been caught in a media storm and had no idea what was going on. Everyone is sympathetic to Beth Holloway (Natalee’s mom) for losing her daughter. But the media overwhelmed the island. They were chasing people down the street.”

The island of Aruba most likely was unprepared for such a media event like the disappearance of Natalee Holloway; however, one may want to question why the MSM became the way they did. One wonders whether it was from rumors and leaks that may even have come from authorities and investigators of the case. There was more than one occasion where a high ranking official or individual in the LE made a statement and then it was stated later that they were either misquoted, taken out of context or misinformed.

The one thing that I will state that makes no sense from a PR stand point is to infuriate a media that one claims is already against you. I would like to think that a media advisor would comprehend such a thing.

He thinks the mainstream media – the broadcast networks and the Associated Press – has been very professional. But he says he has witnessed some outrageous, out-of-control behavior from Fox News anchors and producers and CNN’s Nancy Grace.

“It all turned out to be absolute nonsense,” said Pauly. “Nancy Grace is a drama queen. She bounces from the Queen of Overkill to a cheap-shot artist. It has nothing to do with the facts. She is the worst.”

Pauly doesn’t have much use for Fox News, either. But he considers Greta Van Susteren as the most fair. “That is like saying Curly is the smartest of the Three Stooges,” said Pauly. Fox News wouldn’t respond to Pauly’s comments.

It is hard to imagine that a “media consultant” is in turn actually mocking his own profession. Pauly references the cheap shots made by others in the media with ones of his own. That hardly seems the high ground professionally or even helpful.

With all the questions that there have been regarding the handling of this case and as previously referenced the fact that Nelson Oduber, the Aruban Prime Minister, had even stated there were mistakes done in the investigation; how could this comment be helpful to anyone?

“The Aruban police thought the American media were morons because of all the misinformation they were putting on the air,” said Pauly. “So they weren’t about to cooperate with them.”

He persuaded the police to co-operate with the media or risk the probability that the media would stake out the prison and suspect’s homes and there would be threats to public safety.

I think one needs to remember at the end of the day John Pauly is the media advisor to the Aruba Task Force. What else would anyone else expect him to say? It hardly makes sense to continue down this path and think anything good can come from it for Aruba. What is truly sad and appalling is that John Pauly, someone who should know better, has just repeated Paul Van der Sloot’s line of “No body, no crime“.

“Look at it from a logical point of view,” said Pauly. “There’s no body, so there’s no murder. There’s no crime. There’s no rape because there’s no complainant. There’s no forensic evidence, no credible witnesses. So what are you going to do with these guys?”

What are they thinking?

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Update: Aruba Getagrip; Aruba Truth Spins Again: “John Pauly Speaks Out About Aruba Media Coverage”