Monday, October 1, 2012

Media Sensation Versus The Truth The Case Of Vladimir Kokorev.

Malcolm Endearment once vocal The medias the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and thats power. Years later the arranging of the media may have taken a financial battering, but in terms of its power and distance it is arguably stronger than ever, with an unprecedented power to shape the reputations of mortals and companies with one single story.

Term there are lousy with examples of important journalism throughout the world, there has and been a worrying trend in the fleshing out of weak researched sensational stories. Although for the neutral orator these stories may be a construction of entertainment, it is easy to play past how much damage they can originate to people, families and businesses.

The case of Vladimir Kokorev is a good case - in - point of one compatible story. In 2009 the Spanish media reported that the Russian academic, PhD and valued businessman has been at fault for stealing $26 million from the bridle of Equatorial Guinea.

It sequential emerged that the story was completely sophistical, and around 15 libel trial were brought inveigh various publications. However, by then the damage had been done and the reputation of one of the worlds leading African academics with a career spanning over 35 years: had been tarnished by a story that was entirely untrue.

To understand why this particular story was run by the media in the first place it is worth considering the Kalunga Case.

The Kalunga case was launched by a Spanish NGO Pro Derechos Humanos, an organisation linked to the Guinean opposition residing in Spain and involved in several attempts of military coup against the current government of Equatiorial Guinea the latest, taking place in 2004 in which the mercenary Simon Mann was arrested. The case is directed against several members of the government of Ecquatorial Guinea and their families, and claims that the President of Equatorial Guinea ( Teodoro Obiang ) owned a company called Kalunga, which he had transferred millions of dollars into so he could buy a beach apartment in the Canary Islands of 90 square metres. When it emerged that in fact Kalunga did not belong to Obiang, but to Russian businessman Vladimir Kokorev, there was a media frenzy.

According to the reports Vladimir Kokorev had both stolen 26. 4 million from Equitorial Guinea and at the same time was helping the President buy his luxury apartment ( in reference to 90m2 property mentioned before ) on the Canary Islands where Kalunga had a current account.

What is fascinating about this case is that the media failed to do any research into the Kalunga company itself. Had have done so, not only would they have discovered that it was a highly reputable shipbuilding and repair company, but that it had several contracts with the government of Equitorial Guinea and several private companies operating in Equatorial Guinea. The company had about 250 employees and was responsible for building, repairing and administration of at least 5 mercantile vessels operating in the Gulf of Guinea till today.

Indeed it was the money from these contracts that had been paid into the Kalunga accounts not money intended to buy lavish properties for the President.

With this in mind, the so - called Kalunga case has not been even admitted by the Spanish courts so far, nor was Vladimir Kokorev summoned by the judge even to testify in this case.

When these facts came to light, there was an immediate outpouring of anger and resentment towards the Spanish media in Russian press for attacking a man who has contributed both to the academic circles related to Africa having written numerous books and articles during the Soviet times, some of which are still used as teaching material and to the establishing of businesses in Africa itself no small feat considering all existing entry barriers.

For instance, Russian newspaper Pravda on 29 September 2009 asks the following questions in its article Have the Russians Stolen Guinean Money?: Why did the Spanish newspapers assume that Kalunga was phantom company, without offering any evidence? Why they have decided to launch news in 2009 on an investigation which has taken place in 2005? Is this related to the fact that the presidential elections were to be celebrated in Guinea in November of the same year?

Russian newspaper Rodnaya Gaeta on 16th November 2009 released an article titled A Victim of Spanish - African Conflict. The article details the respectable Russian businessman who deals in sea freight and how he was the victim of a vicious attack by Spanish press.

Russian broadsheet newspaper Parliamentary Gazette released an article titled The Spanish people are missing their colonies and offended by the Kokorevs dated 4thth December 2009. The article detailed how Kokorev recently appeared in court in a bid to protect his honour and dignity after being accused of being a swindler by Spanish papers.

Russian newspaper Nyeeavisimaya published a story about Vladimir Kokorev titled It is necessary to pay more; why a number of mass - media chase cheap sensations dated 14th April 2010 - the article details the courts being filled by 499 judicial claims relating to honour and dignity protection, highlighting the need for higher journalistic standards.

Several more Russian newspapers also leapt to Kokorevs defense. These included the Russian Daily newspaper Novye Izvyestiya ( Businessman Vladimir Kokorev has legal proceeding with Spanish and Russian mass - media on 14th April 2010 ). Broadsheet newspaper Parliamentary Gazette also published an article on 25th December 2009 - The former president of the government of Spain against the businessman from Russia.

All the above articles vigorously defend Kokorevs position and also questioned why the story was run in the first place.

In recent months the first case of libel has been settled with the court ruling in favour of Kokorev going some way to setting the record straight. Nevertheless the case highlights the need for editors, reporters and writers to constantly engage in the highest journalistic standards and fully research stories before going to press.

It is when these principles are observed that journalism is at its best and is a major force for good in the world. However, when the basics are overlooked its easy, in the words of Malcolm X, to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent.

MBT Fora Shoes story

MBT Fora Shoes story begins in the Second World War. France was occupied by Germany and splits in free areas, stimulus bunch was repealed, instead it is a universal worldliness system, this system requires the young people must join a called " Chantiers de Jeunesse " organization. Organization of those very like this kind of special status, called the Jeunesse et MBT Shuguli GTX Shoes ( J. M ), its headquarters is located in Grenoble. Your organization ' s main job is through the former air force one group and alpine region for the official who taught by many young people are interested in fame responsibility of staff and run up, of course, more for mountain ' s favorite. Group in the boys have a chance to be involved in all the hill country of sports, and with nature closely links. Participate in this group has become a dream when boys. JM passed three MBT Imara Shoes people from the meeting: Rene Ramillom, Andre Vincent, Lionel Terray. The 33 - year - old Remillon was Grenoble an important equipment rental manufacturers. He service for military, providing the group equipment. this article come from www. doneradiishoes. net / blog and welcome come to www. sellingmbtshoes. com

My CSS Success Story

Fit, owing to far because I recollect the first time I heard of CSS was when I was a little school - scene missy. Our teacher told us that her brother had all around the toughest exams on the planet... and I was like ' Oh Man! '

For me, the beginning was absolutely abrupt... My mom had always been pushy with me on the matter of beguiling CSS exams but I always gave it a deaf ear, until December 2010... I don ' t know what ok went into me but I decided to holding up the exams. Grabbed my copy of CSS genie book from the hard by bookstore and selected my subjects wandering... On the 20th of December 2010 I submitted my application... and I uttered to myself ' what have I done??? ' - I had done something I didn ' t have the early inkling of just a life before it.

Anyways, I got down to study... took no stress, uniform though my character was disabled. With a reinforced faith in Allah, I started searching for helpful material on the internet and elsewhere. Nabbed whatever I could get my hands on... but studying them was challenging, especially keeping to the fact that I didn ' t have much of a time and that people around me had high hopes for me. Didn ' t want to abase myself before them... had to do it!!! All this was onerous enough to addle me. ' Do it, Amna ' - my inner voice screamed.

I gave up my social life and occluded myself of my room. A state of hibernation, one could say. Watching TV before going to bed was something I had to hold on to otherwise I would go mad... That ' TV time ' was the time for me to read through MCQs. My preparation was good... in fact, quite good since I was able to manage stress well.

Exam days were not so stressful... I didn ' t touch a single book during those 5 days ( 10 papers in a row ). I would just take the papers, come back home and relax. Just wanted my brains to have some space to breathe.

After much wait, finally the written result came out... now I could tell all my impatient kith and kins about it. The first time I opened up the result document, I gave it a cursory look and hence missed out my name... confused roll numbers with serial numbers... thought my dream had shattered!!! My hopes turned into debacle!!! Then typed my name in the search bar and found I was there. Yes! I had made it!!! I was there!!! Yiipppeee!!! Thanked Allah a thousand times...!

Qualifying written exams did not come up as a surprise but the thought of final result ran chills down my spine. I did study enough this time... had five months to go through newspapers and revise my optional subjects. So, I worked really hard to catch up with it.

Psychological assessment was somewhat fun... It was interesting to have your competitors right in front of you; each and everyone giving their best. The interview went too well... didn ' t drop a single question but the thought of not making it to the merit list was constantly lingering in my head.

At last, the final result came out... merit 114 and 11th position in KPK was all I could wish for. I was safe!!!

Allocations were like a formality... had already known my group through calculations on the forum and my own personal understanding of how things move around. So, I am here today writing this, mesmerizing all that I have been through for this dream - a dream to serve my nation... to TAX them for a prosperous Pakistan!!! Yahhhhooooo!!!!

Motivational Stories The Story of Mahatma Gandhi

If laud were measured by report cards or school performance, forasmuch as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would never been more than " characteristic ", the expression he used to describe his academic log. When Gandhi misspelled the discussion " kettle, " his teacher called him nonsensical owing to he was the matchless student who couldn ' t spell that word. Throughout his school career, Gandhi never achieved high ranking, in detail all of his evaluating are below average. When the time came to go to college, he barely passed the matriculation exam for Samaldas College at Bhavnagar, Gujarat.

Greatness, however, cannot be measure by something as mundane as a spelling test or a report card. There ' s more to life than merely getting good grades in school. After graduating from law school, Gandhi began fighting for civil rights in South Africa before moving back to his native homeland in India. There, he fought to free India from British control - not with his fists but with civil disobedience.

At first, those in power dismissed Gandhi ' s efforts. Winston Churchill dismissed him as a " seditious Middle Temple Lawyer, now posing as a fakir. " Men with guns failed to understand a man who said, " There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for. " His opponents learned, however, that Gandhi did not need to use violence; he had courage and spirit that could not be crushed. Although he was imprisoned many times during his life, he refused to give up. Now that ' s true spirit. Gandhi ' s efforts eventually helped bring independence to India.

This mediocre student rose to be labelled by another term: mahatma, which means " great soul. " For all of his life, Gandhi used nonviolent means to help those oppressed. His example and teachings have inspired civil rights leaders and freedom movements in the united states, South Africa, and across the world. Although Gandhi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1937, 1938, 1939 and 1947, he was never given the award. In 1948, Gandhi was considered for the prize a fifth time. However, he was assassinated two days before the nominations closed. The Nobel Committee considered awarding him the prize posthumously that year, but the prize had always been awarded to a living person. Instead, the committee decided to make no award in 1948, because " there was no suitable living candidate. " To keep it simply, the award was meant to be given to Mahatma Gandhi.

New Interactive Short Story Books Designed For Children With Aspergers Syndrome

My name is Chant Haldane, and known through Dannie ' s Mum. Dannie and I have been through populous experiences which I ' m sure these books will disclose. Dannie is now 17 and doing very fine in her 6th die, filly has achieved so much over the gone 17 years and I am so great of her, some of it hasn ' t been easy which I ' m sure Dannie will shake on but we persevered and we are now in a position to help others in the alike situation.

Span Dannie was growing up, I establish it very arduous to find unit examples of unquestionably how Asperger ' s Syndrome would induce Dannie on a daily basis, there are copious websites and books which will vouchsafe you the ins and outs of all the medical vernacular you can hilt, but no actual examples.

I launch myself on alive with occasions application myself over and over, " Fine I understand that the children take people literally, but exactly how do they do this. " I unfortunately found no answers, thus Dannie ' s Dilemmas was born, giving examples galore of how Asperger ' s affects Dannie in everyday situations, how I myself dealt with these actions.

Dannie and I put our brains together and came up with the interactive idea where the reader would decide Dannie ' s actions, thus giving the reader the possibility of two separate outcomes. This we hope will show others that there are always other ways to deal with situations.

The idea behind the shopping trip, well I suppose it has many factors, for the children I wanted to show that we understand the difficulty they face in having to wait their turn, and that making decisions can be hard at times. We wanted to show that Dannie has the same ideas and thoughts as they do, hopefully making it clear that there are ways round the difficulties that they face on a daily basis.

For the parents we tried to show the childs prospective on how what we say can be taken in many different views, and hopefully show that sometimes what the child says is not meant to be argumentative or said to cause trouble.

The idea behind The Right Shoes, well this too has many factors, for the children I wanted to show that it is better to inform someone if the feel they are being judged and mistreated in any way, also that it is better to try and explain their thoughts on different subjects, in this case the way Dannie feels about buying new shoes.

For the parents we tried to show that even with the best intentions in the world, we try to gain peoples patience when it comes to dealing with a child who needs just a little extra time, sometimes what we say just makes the matter worse for the children and how some people will continue to treat our kids wrong.

The following review is from a loving parent Adrienne.

What a wonderful insight, to how a young girl perceives the world with Aspergers. How difficult it is to control her emotions with family and the Neuro typical world, without getting into trouble.

Dannie ' s stories, provide, explain and clarify how she has to deal with everything from the time she wakes up in the morning, to getting through the day and dealing with people who just don ' t understand her let alone get her.

Yes it can be frustrating for parents to have to keep reminding Asperger kids what they have to do, why they react in a certain way, but at the end of the day, Dannie ' s Mum was always there for her, and had her best interest at heart.

I truly enjoyed reading these stories, so much so that I happened to be in a toy shop today with both my kiddies ( Paul 7 autism, Rachel 5 hearing difficulties ) and I applied the situation that given 3 choices to pick a toy they want to swap. I had to tailor it a little differently but the idea worked.

Karen thank you so much for letting me be one of the members to pre - read the book. Well done to Dannie for having the courage to do the stories, which exposed so much of herself, how she sees the world and how the world deals with her. To Dannie ' s supports for providing a guidance to her.

The book made me laugh, teary and gave me another insight to my own son and how he thinks and the way he may view the world around him.

Good luck with these stories, and heres to may more that may arrive in the near future. Well Done to all involved and for a job well done.

Motivational Stories The Story of Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill stuttered because a child. His father, who had wanted his baby to become a solicitor, rationalizing Churchill was retarded since he did ill in school, most of the time finishing near the bottom of his class. Churchill failed the sixth grade, took three full terms to get to the next class in mathematics, and was unbefriended by both Oxford and Cambridge. Churchill ' s father advised him to pursue a career in the Legion. Following his father ' s advised, he accordingly useful to tie the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, the British equivalent to West Point in the United States, but he failed the entrance examination, twice! Ensuing fervent tutoring and a lot of cramming, Churchill squeaked by the interrogation time round.

Later graduation, Churchill entered the British Army, a career that seemed to suit him. By 1911, he had become First Lord of the Admiralty, pretty amazing isn ' t it? He filled that position for the next four years. In 1915, during World War I, Churchill helped engineer an unsuccessful battle, referred to as the Gallipoli Disaster. Although some argued that the fault for the failure lay with the tactical commanders, Churchill took the blame and responsibility, hence received a demotion. Not too long after, he gave a remarked to the publisher of the News of the World, " I am finished. It ' s over for me. "

That comment proved to be far from the truth. Churchill held a variety of positions during the 1920s, and he demonstrated his real value as a commander. When World War II broke out, Churchill was reappointed First Lord of the Admiralty and became a member of the War Cabinet. Early in the war, Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, resigned. Winston was the overwhelming choice to replace Neville. He accepted the position and helped lead England to victory. Despite Churchill ' s success, he was heavily defeated in his bid for prime minister in 1945. Many historians speculate that his success as a wartime leader led people to believe he could not perform as well during a time of peace.

Nonetheless, 6 years later, Winston again became prime minister, a position that he held until he resigned in 1955. When not serving in the government, Winston spent his time writing books on English and world history, for which he won the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature.

From failure and rejection to prime minister of the united kingdom. Winston Churchill is widely regarded as one of the most successful war leaders in history ( War World II ).

Public Speaking The Simple Secrets of Story Telling

People usually judge to me, " But I can ' t tell stories! "... now if those who can were born with some personal largesse that they somehow gone astray out on! They envy these nation over in the telling of their stories these people consistently press their listeners ' steaming buttons to get the outcomes they desire. Indisputable that they have no pipe dream of competing with these ' cleverer ' people, whenever they get up to speak they stick to the bare facts in that it ' s ' safer ' and jar why their listeners look so bored and they have to functioning so hard at it! They ' re just a speaking head with the sole principle of getting it over and done with seeing swiftly owing to possible. Who wouldn ' t be bored! They ' re totally unaware that being an interesting speaker has nought to do with some born ' offering ' or that human - pastime stories are wholesome within their grasp ever. This revealing article will protect that whenever you speak before groups you ' ll be at one with your listeners and in no rush to get away.

People relate to everyday stories. One of the main problems is that people are looking in the erring place for ways to comprise a bit of naturalness and humanity into their regularly unpolluted talks. Unyielding because they are to believe speaking before groups is more ' formal ' and ' solemn ' than everyday conversation, they don ' t equivalent meditate using the everyday stories that at fault their listeners spellbound at the coffee muckamuck whereas part of their talks. And the other trap they fall into is they presume that portion example they come across has to be a pure example of the topic below discussion. They are not altogether aware of the power of an analogy, that is, a story from elsewhere in life that graphically illustrates the same principle and point. This is a vital key they miss because people readily relate to everyday examples if they graphically illustrate the principle and point you are striving to make.

Think about this: When you arrive home from a day ' s activities and someone asks ' How was your day? ' How do you respond? I ' ll bet you ' d find yourself answering with something like: ' We had a bit of drama after lunch etc... ' Then without thinking you ' d expand on this ' happening '. In a spontaneous way you ' d find yourself painting mental pictures, sharing feelings and paraphrasing what was thought and said. So it ' s important to keep in mind that reliving a happening to family and friends and telling a story in a talk to support a point is one and the same thing. Go back to those ' natural ' speakers you admire for a moment for this is exactly what they do to help them engage with people.

Connecting with people on a human level. The fact is when you speak to close friends and family you are at your most expressive because you don ' t feel threatened. You instinctively have people visualising things, feeling things, and paraphrasing what was thought and said. That ' s how animated conversation works. I see it all the time with people sitting at curbside restaurants and the like. They laugh, they ' re animated, they interact, and they ' re alive! Yet when speaking before groups these very same people leave all this naturalness behind and come across stilted and stiff, more concerned with what they look and sound like than connecting with people on a human level. Whereas those who ' conversationally ' replay specific things they ' ve experienced or witnessed to illustrate their points have their listeners thinking they ' re talking to them personally... and isn ' t this the aim of it all?

Think of a recent happening you experienced. As you think back on it you clearly see the images of that event... You experience the feelings of the time as if you were there... And you hear the things people were saying and the thoughts that were running through your head. Exactly the same things that would happen to your listeners if you replayed this story to them to make a point. I ' ll give you an example of what I mean. I once took my little six - year - old boy to a day of activities at our local swimming pool. He ' d been excited about this for days, but when we got there and he saw all the people he had a panic attack. He was too scared to go in and there was nothing I could do to change his mind. When I think about it now, I can see him crouched behind a bush in the garden and me carrying him in to explain the situation to the lifeguard. I can feel my frustration as I thought, " I ' m going to have to take him all the way home again. " And I can hear the reassuring words of the lifeguard as she knelt down and said, " Richard, we ' ve got some wonderful DVDs to show you and a big friendly pool monster you can ride on. " This did the trick. " See you dad, " he said, and he was off!

Stories stimulate flashbacks. Now, could you see that frightened little boy hiding in the bushes and his frustrated dad carrying him inside? Could you empathise with the feelings of the situation, with me thinking " This is all I need... now I ' m going to have to take him all the way home! " And could you hear the lifeguard saying " We ' ve got some great DVDs to show you and a big friendly monster you can jump on in the pool. " You related to the story because these three elements triggered your natural interest and helped you relate by stimulating flashbacks of similar circumstances in your own mind. The naturalness in these stories is the very essence of communication, the key to influencing people on their wavelength. It ' s the painting of mental pictures, the feelings and the hearing others speak and think that presses your listeners ' interest buttons and keeps them engaged.

And of course even though this was a personal story of my little boy at a leisure centre, by no means is this example confined to one talk. I could use it to support all sorts of key points in other talks as well, like: We can all feel uneasy when surrounded by a lot of people we don ' t know; Fear can be overcome with a bit of help; The simple secrets of a good story; The trials and tribulations of being a parent.

To sum up: Be it a business presentation or a social speech, by replaying an everyday happening to illustrate a point you ' ll ensure your talks come across as a two - way dialogue, not a one - way monologue. People will connect with you as if you ' re talking to them personally because this is the way we convey information to each other socially. What you ' ve been doing naturally for years will now be clear to you. You ' ll be able to visualise the pictures, experience the feelings, and be aware of how we paraphrase our thoughts and act out a situation when we describe it. Remember that these three characteristics are the magic hot buttons that stimulate our interest and appeal to our hearts and minds. So simply incorporate the naturalness of conversational story - telling into your talk and what you are saying can ' t help but come to life. Most of all you ' ll now be aware that you are just as ' clever ' as those gifted speakers who used to daunt you. So watch them carefully and open your mind to your own possibilities!