Sgolbew Leaks: Information flow and secrecy

Yesterday, Vijana FM received the following letter from Nur, the Sgolbew writer:

The aim of this short story is to encourage readers to ponder over these questions: Does the claim to complete self-expression and free flow of information contradict with keeping secrets? Who decides what information is worth keeping secret?

It was a grey cloudy day in London when Nur decided to join Nick to write for Sgolbew. After continued reluctance, her admittance appeared pretty dramatic. Nur had been an independent journalist for long, so she assumed that working with a fellow journalist would be based on direct correspondence and utter transparency. At times she took it for granted that not everyone believed in these values.

Anyway, at the outset Nur was highly motivated to write for Sgolbew. She shared its vision to promote critical thinking among youth through weblogs. Also the fact that herself and Nick belonged to the same school of journalism made Nur believe that writing with Nick would not be a problem. Having lived in a small town in a far off corner of the world, Nur was not very cutting edge in her journalistic pursuits. She secretly preferred radio and newspapers over Internet. Technology excited her but she was keen on establishing strong human connections prior to ensuing virtual connections.

Nick on the other hand worshipped technology and could not imagine people breathing without Facebook. He always claimed that people should share all their information and nothing should be kept out of public eye. This in his view was the marker of how transparent people were. Nur did not agree with these thoughts; but she knew that her views did not form the only perspective. Hence she did not overtly oppose Nick’s views and expected the same tolerance in return.

The little direct communication that took place at Sgolbew between Nick and Nur was mostly online. “Trust” was the word that Nick frequently and heedlessly used to assert commitment towards Sgolbew. Overlooking everything else, Nur continued writing for Sgolbew. Why at times Nick did not discuss basic operational things at Sgolbew with Nur and why there was minimal communication, Nur was to find out later.

It was before Nur left for her field trip to Morocco to assess youth responses to Sgolbew that Nick mentioned some kind of a “Trust Network” to her. He told her that he would tell her more about it once she was back from the field. Nur found it strange as to how Sgolbew was being run by two individuals and “network” just did not sound right in that equation.

Subsequently, something very strange happened in the field which took Nur by surprise. One of the readers of Sgolbew approached her and questioned her about a minor technical issue at Sgolbew. Not only was Nur puzzled over this particular reader’s knowledge about Sgolbew’s inner workings but she also had questions regarding journalistic code of ethic for Nick. Could Nick really go around discussing the inner workings of Sgolbew to readers and not discuss the same issues with Nur, a journalist at Sgolbew?

Back in London, Nur was reluctant to discuss this issue with Nick. She had decided to continue her independent work once Nick leaves for his “Facebook trip of the world”. But one last meeting had to be called between Nick and Nur to figure out the future of Sgolbew. Nick had somehow assumed that Nur would be ok with his writing from long distance. Nur, on the other hand had made up her mind. It was not that she was sceptical of technology; she would have appreciated to continue to work for Sgolbew but it was Nick she did not want to work with. Nick, completely unaware of what Nur was thinking, discussed the “Trust Network” with her and told her about it’s operations.

It turned out that Nick was affiliated with an underground political weblog called Regnis Nainitselap and he asked Nur to keep it a secret. The aim of this particular project was to promote political music through one singer’s voice. Nick admitted that his plan was to establish Regnis Nainitselap as an umbrella under which all other of his projects such as Sgolbew would operate. To him Regnis Nainitselap was his main project and all other projects like Sgolbew would have to accept that.

When Nur asked Nick to openly work for Regnis Nainitselap, and not put his legs in two boats he said that he would be in political danger if everyone got to know about it. At the same time, when Nur informed Nick that she would not pursue long distance writing, Nick laughed off. Before leaving Nick advised Nur saying: “You should not take Sgolbew seriously, you go to a new place and write for one weblog, you go to another place where you like to write for another weblog and that is how it  goes”.

This clarified to Nur that Nick was not only non-serious about Sgolbew; but he did not share serious considerations in promoting critical thinking among youth. Nur was disappointed that a project with good vision had come to a halt. However, life has to go on. Once Nick had left, Nur had to face all Nick’s sympathisers who blamed Nur for being unreasonable for not writing with Nick.

But Nur did not care about what others said or did; she invested in a radio company along with small monthly magazine. Both these projects involved youth initiatives that promoted critical thinking. Not only did Nur succeed in running her own projects, she also made hell lot of good money.

The above story is inspired by “Sgolbew: a story about newspapers and opinions“, which was a reader’s perspective on Sgolbew. The independent writer of the story is sharing her thoughts as a participant at Sgolbew and does not claim her thoughts to be facts; they are merely perspectives reflecting her experience.

Points to ponder:

• Did Nick contradict himself in claiming free flow of all information to everyone but keeping covert operations with Regnis Naintiselap?
• Was Nur fair in halting operations at Sgolbew once she found out about Nick’s other projects, which he claimed could not be pursued openly because of political reasons?
• Should Nur have accepted Nick’s parallel projects and condone his double standards?

Vijana FM thanks Nur for sending this in! Entries from others (Nick? Rashidi?) are welcome – submit (at) vijana (dot) fm.