Talk:SML Strategic Media

Relocating from article page - will post notes soon. --Bob Burton 21:00, 27 September 2007 (EDT)

Edit Notes
Maja Lapcevic from SML contacted me and asked that it be clarified that there was no evidence that the murder of Gregoire de Bourgues was connected with his work for SML. The original posted material (above) was based on a story from O'Dwyers PR Daily. That in turn seems to have been based on an article posted at Eurasianet.

That story flagged the possibility, based on the comment of one person, that the murder may have been a result of his work. "The director of Kazakhstan’s Journalists in Danger foundation, Rozlana Taukina, remains unconvinced that the root cause of de Bourgues’ death was robbery. Citing a conversation with a source familiar with de Bourgues’ activities, Taukina suggested that the French researcher had perhaps uncovered potentially explosive information concerning the deaths of two prominent Kazakhstani politicians, Zamanbek Nurkadilov and Altynbek Sarsenbayev." It is worth noting that the suggestion was qualified and was based on someone relaying the view of another but anonymous source.

On the other hand the Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilyas Omarov and another NGO indicated they were inclined to beleive it was a robbery and not professionally related.

While Reporters without Borders has raised questions about the investigation and subsequent trial of two people convicted of de Bourgues murder, there is no hard evidence that it was linked to his work for SML.

In view of this, it seems to me that leaving the material on the article page doesn't usefully contribute any solid material to a profile on SML. At best it would belong on a page about de Bourgues, but I can't see the point of creating one on him. --Bob Burton 21:16, 27 September 2007 (EDT)

Response
Bob, thanks for looking into this. I agree that the speculation that de Bourgues' murder was linked to his SML work should be removed from the article page, as it is unsupported.

However, I think the other info in the paragraph above - namely, that one SML project was a four-page advertorial "extolling progress made in Kazakhstan under the leadership of Nursultan Nazarbayev" - should be reinstated. That give info on the firm's clients and work.

--Diane Farsetta 16:27, 28 September 2007 (EDT)