Watch Out for Kiwi Journos

[MongerSEA]

It has been learned that a reporter/producer from the 3News’s program 60 Minutes in New Zealand has been sniffing around to several of the farang private investigators in Bangkok and Pattaya.

 

The reporter in question, Sarah Hall (photo below), has been asking for help on doing a story, purportedly in an exposé style, on sex-tourism and prostitution in the Kingdom, on the oh-so-dreadful and coerced life of the average bar-girl, and on the Kiwi guys (oppressors! opportunists!) who patronize the girl scene here.

 

It is apparently on the agenda of the production team  who are arriving in Thailand at the end of this week  to do secret filming in and around bars, the more salacious the better. Thus gogos and some of the beer bar complexes are obvious targets.

 

If you’re out for some fun and happen to see them, why not say hello, be a nuisance and make sure they don’t get any useful footage? Otherwise just be on the look-out for one or more guys with New Zealand accents who seem to care a bit too much about a shoulder bag or knapsack of medium to large size.

 

If you’re a bar owner, make sure you’ve got your “No Video†signs up, and grab their equipment if you can. They apparently do not have work permits or film production licenses to be doing this, so your cop friends can handle them with no problems.

 

Your security guys and servers should in particular be looking for guys who leave a bag beside them, positioned so it would have a clear line of sight to the main action such as your dance stage.

 

Punters and publicans, please help give this alert the widest possible distribution. None of us wants to be on camera as we have our fun, or give the sensationalist media any help in attacking our recreational choices or livelihoods, do we?

 

* * *

 

In preparing to release this information for general consumption, eight notable local private investigators were contacted and invited to comment. In general, no is talking for the record, not even the bar-girl investigator and commentator with the obvious New Zealand connection.

 

One who did answer, but asks not to be identified, stated that his organization was profoundly concerned that if any investigator did consent to Hall’s request for an interview, or worse for a “ride-along†on an active investigation, the consequences could be very bad.

 

One can understand why  once the video is in the can and Hall is in the editing bay, there’s no telling how things might be spun. Nobody wants a repeat of the “Big Trouble in Thailand†fiasco, especially a professional community where a bit of secrecy and anonymity are indispensable.

 

Another PI was kind enough to give some background on discrete camera work, and feels that having a film crew tag along on a live case would be an unforgivable breach of ethics. He suggests than any local investigator cooperating with an undertaking like that would probably be cutting his own throat in the long haul.

 

* * *

 

And for those here for a bit of fun, doing no real harm to anyone, who would simply rather not be in the glare of the international media spotlight, might this not best summarize their thoughts: Sarah, aren’t there more important things for real journalists to be doing with their time?

 

Sure, your employer wants eye-catching footage so they can grab maximum advertising revenue, but isn’t that what war zones are for? Are there no more orphans at whom you might point your cameras, and towards whom you might direct your urges to help and heal?

 

During your limo ride to your expense-account hotel suite, perhaps you deigned to notice those people with colorful shirts contesting for their vision of a future for their homeland? Know you anything of rice prices, of landmines, of droughts and drugs, of anything of real concern here in the Kingdom and the region?

 

Yes, Thai society is rather broken, and yes, that does in a small measure impel girls to the bars. But there’s nothing new in it for you, Sarah, and you’ll be going over some very well-trodden ground far below the norm as per your bio. This is a non-story and you may well end up doing far more harm than good in ways you can’t even anticipate.

[shygye]

I guess it is rating sweeps time in Kiwi land. Safer than doing a report on the yellow shirts vs red shirts conflict.

[ozpharlap]

Is there not enough social problems in New Zealand? What with youth violence, gangs, crimes against women etc.

 

As if it is a secret that Bangkok offers sex tourism, for farangs and Thais alike, as does any other country.

[kamui]

 

As if it is a secret that Bangkok offers sex tourism, for farangs and Thais alike, as does any other country.

 

Nope, not as any other country. It would be great to have a Gogo strip like SC in Europe - for the same prices and with Asian cuties...

:content:

[zeitgeist]

For some reason I can't get the thought that there's something fishy about this post.

Apologies if I'm wrong, but this topic has been started across 4 forums, all by the same poster (same name), all first joined today.

The profile on this forum shows a link which takes you to a blog page with just this story on it!?!?!

[chuckwoww]

Sounds like somebody got left out of the project.

[Bangkoktraveler]

Sensational journalism. Has happened in the past and will happen in the future.

 

Nothing new.

[Stickman]

As you seem to know rather a lot about this, what makes me wonder is just how you know...

[ozpharlap]

I am starting to wonder who Stickman has upset.

 

There seems to be a lot of Stickman threads popping up lately. I was wondering if this alleged expose was going to be centered on or about his site or any of his advertisers.

 

Talk about a storm in a teacup.

[Coss]

Well if this is true, punch 'em good and hard on the nose. Double black eyes are the order of the day.

 

And remember, prostitution is Legal in NZ.

 

So what's the angle?

 

Can't look disapprovingly at men in NZ because it's legal and we'd be up against the right of women to do what they want with their bodies.

 

Aaahh but if we can suggest trafficking and other illegal activities and sneer at men overseas, so much the better.