Samuel Allen, Jr. is a broadcaster who appears to be on the verge of making Internet news media history in St. Martin. For the second consecutive year, Allen’s SXMISLANDTIME.COM has won the SHTA Pineapple Award for Outstanding Journalism (2011). There is more going on here than Allen distinguishing himself as the only media representative to pick up a second award at one of the island’s premiere star-studded affairs.
Allen founded the news website in February 2008. “I had ideas to create my own online news portal and with the help of local experts like Greg Richardson and Alvin Prescod I have managed to take it to where it is today,” said Allen.
The online publisher/editor/reporter is also the news director at PJD2 radio and will celebrate his 25th anniversary at the station in 2012. At SXMISLANDTIME.COM, improvements in writing style still have to catch up with the up-to-the-minute newsbreaks and fast-paced daily posting of news and information on the site.
This writing issue – spelling, grammar, punctuation, attribution, context – is a language teacher’s nightmare and terrifies some readers of blogs, news, and other information websites all over the world.
Traditional media with online editions, The Daily Herald and Today of St. Martin included, still fare better with online content writing and attributed sources. “I’m working on that too,” said Allen. His PJD2 news track record could have something to do with the growing reliability being earned for his site from its “visitors.”
We “Get It” Online
SXMISLANDTIME.COM is not the lone wolf, nor is it without competition for publishing serious St. Martin news and information on the World Wide Web. On an island of just over 80,000 people (including unregistered folks), the general population is arguably computer and Internet savvy, according to computer expert Percival Cocks.
Online information activities are very visible. There is “Don Ricardo” over at Arts Video Studios toughing it out with camera and editing productions, and AVS TV news driving the company’s multimedia portal, avsnewsonline.com. SMN-news.com sits front row with the traditional print and broadcast press corps at government and police news briefings in Great Bay and Marigot.
Retired educators like Camille Baly and Leopold Baly are bloggers who still have a lot to say. Youngsters are virulent on Facebook (FB), Youtube, and Soundcloud with “whatever” and “what have you” messages, from the murky, to the meleerosa, to the meaningful—and these young people have banged a savage dent into email use (a worldwide email phenomenon).
(Source http://www.sknvibes.com/news/newsdetails.cfm/50855)
