Dear Maria Almenoar, shame on you, really, putting the blame on the taxi driver

[Confuseous]

"There was no hint to either of us that he meant what he earned in a particular month. I had asked how much he earned, not what was the most he ever earned."

Seriously, Maria, that’s the best you can offer? It is hard to imagine how a question as straightforward as this could be misinterpreted. If your questions posed to Mr Muhammed were unclear, it is your duty to clarify and probe further. An obvious way is to speak to other cabbies who don’t earn as much and find out if what Mr Muhammed claimed made sense. That would have raised a few early alarm bells. It’s not as if this is some time-critical report that cannot wait.

If it’s not bad enough that you got it wrong the first time, it is convenient and downright irresponsible to blame it on the poor fellow who doesn’t have the avenue as you do to explain himself in a national newspaper. Mr Muhammed was, at worst, guilty of being a little boastful as many are wont to be when presenting themselves in public. Truthful reporting is not his job. And to spend half your article trying to justify that it is indeed possible to earn $7k as a cabby is to attempt to divert the issue that you had misreported. It’s always best to admit your mistake instead of trying to explain yourself away. Better to be known as a shoddy but honest reporter than a shoddy and dishonest one.

-http://www.voiddecker.com/2012/11/maria-almenoar-and-the-7000-cabby/

 

[mollusk]

And she got no decency to apologize instead she try to wriggle her way out.

 

[tualingong]

muhammad is also responsible for boasting lah.

how can she quote out of context if muhammad had not withold some important information

like only in one special month i could earn up to seven thousands.

while on average it is just five thousands.

mats should try to be responsible.

 

[Kohliantye]

Almenoar or in Arabic Al-menoar is not a Pinay name as earleir suspected by some of our esteemed readers.

The user of that name appears to be a local woman who may have some ancestry to either parent being from the Middle East.

I am sure the original Arabs must have felt insulted that one of their name-users works as an irresponsible reporter with an equally unreliable monopolistic newspaper company.

It would have been better if she had become a writer for some kids fables where she could exagerate to her heart's content.

She must be aware that our readers are not that shallow in their minds. They are bright and sharp and possess investigative minds too.

These forum should become a pool of on-line sleuths just like those that managed to expose the BROMPTON Bicycle tender.

 

[ray_of_hope]

I think the real issue here is that those knuckleheads in SPH have steered well away from investigative reporting. If they did investigative reporting the papers will be filled with interesting news day after day after day. Now however they are simply starved of news to report on and so they latch on to feel-good stories which do not even have an ounce of credibility. If they continue the same way then people will just buy the papers for the classifieds.

 

[Einfield]

The shit times mission is to counter or " Balance " our
Negative opinions or truth, which their master can't handle.

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

This is journalism at its worst. Writing a news article without verifying the facts.

What if she wrote an article saying that drinking pesticide can cure cancer?

 

[ionzu]

fact checking and proper investigation are concepts totally alien to ST reporters. they rely on one liners like "the minister said so, so it must be true"

read the ST for truly shitty times. i don't know anyone who even still buys the papers. may the shit times RIP asap, thanks to the caliber of reporters like almenoar.

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

 

[BuiKia]

I knew one Muslim Almenoar who is in his 60s, probably one of her relatives since there are only so few of them in Singapore. Same like her, his words are not reliable. He claim to be a businessman and has dealings in many countries (mainly Philippines). He always say his business would bring in millions once it goes through. But he kept on asking me to lend him a few hundreds to tide over the month.

 

[borom]

Anyone knows whether she is related to lawyer Dato/Tan Sri Syed Esa bin Almenoar who took part in the 1963 elections
in Changi constituency under the Singapore Alliance banner?
Hopefully not in the same mould as the son of C.V.DN