Letter in response to advertorial story

Dear Editor,

This is in response to your article of November 25, 2010, entitled “Advertorial ‘media pirates’ set sail for Maldives.” I’m sure you are aware that calling us pirates is in essence calling us thieves, which as you well know is slander. I would like to set the record straight about Star Communications’ presence and activity in Maldives and provide accurate facts about our company and ask that you provide an honest solution to the problem you have created for our company.

As a credible news source or journalist it is your responsibility first and foremost to gather all information and hear all sides to any story. I am surprised that Star Communications was never contacted before you published this article. With all the information that you “provide” on our behalf, not once did you have the consideration to speak to us directly, why is that?

We would have been more than receptive to discuss any questions/concerns you might have had regarding our promotional report we are preparing on the Maldives. It is misleading readers to quote only one unnamed source and refer only to an undated article that has nothing to do with our agency. Furthermore our employee who is currently in the Maldives would have also been open to speak with you. We have never been contacted nor solicited for information. As you can imagine the article you published is not only damaging to our companies’ reputation but to our clients who understand that international exposure is highly beneficial for their respective companies.

We are unaware of the problems that you or the Government may have had with other companies or publications and find it unfair and misleading to compare or align us with any other company. We are a specialized media agency that was started in 2002 and we work with leading publications worldwide, including international reputable media such as NEWSWEEK, FOREIGN POLICY and CNBC MAGAZINE to name a few.

We take pride in our work and our ability to help companies and institutions communicate globally and understand the lack of information that exists about many developing countries, which are benefited through positive promotional international coverage. Our experience is that this industry creates opportunities rather than pirating as you misleadingly suggest.

Our project in the Maldives arose as the result of a meeting with the Head of Political and Commonwealth Affairs and Political Affairs officer from the High Commission in London on 15th September 2010, where we discussed our intention to produce a promotional feature on the country for CNBC Business which will be published in the January/February special double issue of CNBC.

This special edition has extra distribution at the World Economic Forum in Davos plus the ITB Fair in Berlin. You are correct in stating that the normal readership of CNBC is 670,000 readers but this is for a single monthly edition and does not apply to this specific issue. The Golden envelope distribution which starts with the current December Edition of CNBC can also be confirmed at the CNBC website.

We went through the official and correct channels. We received the full support of High Commission and have subsequently held various meetings in Maldives with government officials. Hence, while there may have been a blacklist in operation last year, as you allege, which affected other companies, we have been granted official approval to market our product in Maldives in 2010.

At no time, however, have we attempted to sell advertising to government officials in Maldives and have only offered the opportunity to purchase space to public and private-owned companies. Their choice on whether or not to do so is entirely at their discretion, and we have no leverage whatsoever on their decisions.

Whilst in the Maldives we have carried out our work with the utmost rigorous professionalism, we feel confident that our past reports in countries across the globe such as Canada, Mexico, Malta, Turkey, Turks & Caicos, Egypt, Spain and Ghana have been highly regarded. Please find attached some recommendation letters from Highly Ranked Officials and CEO’s who have highly praised our work over the years.

We have always clearly stated that we are Star Communications creating a special promotional feature to be published in CNBC. We even provide a letter from the media that proves our association. (This is the letter you refer to in your article, and it is clear our relationship to the media). To complete the information let me state that Star Communications is, as you acknowledge, an authorised representative of CNBC Business magazine, as the referral letter from its Commercial Director, Kevin Rolfe, clearly reads.

As such, we do sell advertising space with the express permission of the publication, and do produce a promotional product – which we variously refer to as special reports, special sections, or special features – which comprises advertising and editorial elements. We do not, however, purport to be journalists; we are journalists with a track record of interviewing Presidents, Ministers and CEO’s over the 5 continents.

Your reference to a team in the Maldives and some very derogative and sexist selling techniques is out of line and clearly doesn’t apply to our sole representative who works under the title of “Project Director” and carries an impeccable record of over 5 years in this industry. As you imply by association we want to clarify that we don’t have any relationship whatsoever with NOA (AFA), nor any of the media titles mentioned in your article.

Regarding our pricing we would be more than happy to meet with you and show you our rate card and discuss the different pricing alternatives and justify our prices. I can confirm that no single entity has been offered a single page for 70k USD.

Clearly, the extension of our coverage depends on the amount of advertising space sold, just as it does with any other kind of promotional publication. The more space purchased, the longer our special feature will be. The tone, however, is not dependent on the amount of space sold, but, rather, on our editorial criteria. And at a later stage the media’s criteria, as the final product has to be approved by the editorial team of CNBC.

In your article you also question the possibility of finding us in google, which is strange as it clearly appears within the first 8 hits if you type Star Communications. As well you infer a sense of illegality to the fact that the company is based out of Ireland, which is a reputable European Union member that you try to portray as an offshore tax evasion destination.

Your article has already raised concerns for some of our clients who have copied and pasted the article to us. We ask you to have the decency to contact us directly and get the facts and report on these. This would be the honest and fair path forward. We URGE you to publish a retraction. We thank you in advance for your consideration and appeal to your sense of journalistic integrity to present the facts to your readers instead of a “fast sell” by slandering our agency as pirates. It is unfair and unjust, and completely without disregard to not have picked up the phone and spoken to us prior to publishing this. We await your comments.

Yours sincerely,

Christina Hays
Managing Director
Star Communications

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