Stacey Dooley's Thailand adventure
BBC3 aired a documentary called Tourism And The Truth: Stacey Dooley Investigates on March 30. The programme was presented by shop-assistant-turned-television-personality Stacey Dooley, a dippy 24-year-old Brit who the BBC has called on to tackle labour issues in foreign countries. It was Thailand's turn on Wednesday, and Stacey set off to Phuket on a mission to hunt out the darker side of tourism. This may all sound familiar because it's really nothing new, but I decided to give the show the benefit of the doubt and see what Stacey could come up with. The short answer is: not much.
Opinion on the documentary appears to be divided. Some found Stacey's bewildered enthusiasm endearing while others just wanted to scream at the girl. The first gripe I had was that she clearly knew nothing about Thailand, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but in this case it showed a lack of understanding about the country and issues she was covering. From her surprise at seeing a Tesco in Phuket to her incessant wai-ing of everyone, including children, it was like watching a well-meaning, though slightly annoying Brit experience some kind of cultural enlightenment.
Stacey arrived in Phuket, made a few general observations and then got settled at the Banthai Beach Resort in Patong where, she said, a room can be had from £30 a night. The room rates on the website start from 6,500 baht (£130). Stacey stayed at the hotel for a night before experiencing life as a maid. The point of this was to see how hard the maids worked for so little in return. The fact that Stacey had clearly never worked as a maid in a hotel meant that she couldn't work at the required pace. No surprises there. We then find out that the maids' work for above Thailand's minimum wage, so it was unfair for Stacey to single this hotel out as evidence that foreign demand for cheap holidays is having a negative impact on the lives of the men and women working in the industry. The choice of hotel in itself was wrong. As Phuket veteran Lana Willocks wrote, the hotel is "known to be a fair yet exacting employer, expecting high standards from its staff yet rewarding them with free food, accommodation and transport, plus annual parties where big gifts including motorbikes are handed out".
What Stacey missed was that without tourism, Thailand would be a lot worse off. Stacey's utter shock at the conditions the maids lived and worked in were mostly a reflection of her having a very limited scope for conceptualising the lives of unskilled workers in countries poorer than the UK. The maids weren't forced to work at the hotel. They had jobs that they admitted were better paid than other work they could have found. They were making above minimum wage and able to support themselves and their families. It wasn't as if the women she was focussing on were in desperate poverty.
And yet Stacey was shocked and surprised at everything she saw. This wasn't investigative journalism and there were certainly no revelations. What about the benefits to Thailand that tourism has brought the nation? By revitalising its economy around in the eighties, Thailand was able to boost tourism from 30 billion baht in 1985 to 110 billion baht in 1990. This turnaround led to an enormous economic boom. So when Stacey Dooley pronounces that “It's not fair” that a Thai woman has an average wage working in an industry that has benefitted millions of Thais, it raises questions about what the BBC's agenda is here. Why single out Thailand? Why corner the hotel's management and demand they raise worker salaries against the status quo? And what was Stacey's solution to the "problem"? Leaving tips for the maids.
Stacey wasn't done there. The next people to be blessed by her presence were the Sea Gypsies, a nomadic sea-based people whose way of life is under threat from tourism. There is a real issue here, but it's not a new one. I was bemused by the way Stacey presented herself as the saviour of the Sea Gypsies, as the only one who could fight their cause, take it straight to the prime minister and tell the government essentially what it already knows. The Phuket Gazette has written extensively on the Sea Gypsy issue.
Somehow, Stacey managed to get an interview with the prime minister, but it was cancelled at the last minute and instead she met with Abhisit-lookalike and deputy director of the government's flood centre Vittayen Muttamara. What grated me here was how Khun Sanit, the young Sea Gypsy chap she simply could not leave behind for this meeting, did not say a word. He simply sat there. Is that empowerment? Giving a minority group a voice? Or a young woman thinking that if the words come from a Westerner then it will automatically make a difference?
Aisde from fighting the good fight, Stacey also found her way to Koh Pha-ngan, which should couldn't even pronounce correctly, where she attended a full moon party and discovered that people get very drunk and sometimes die, which we've known for years. For a moment the documentary turned into a piece about the number of Brits who perish in Thailand – again, old news – leaving behind the plight of the locals Stacey was supposedly defending. The one thing we did learn was that tourism brings the island £50 million a year. No mention of environmental degradation or locals suffering or being unhappy.
I don't want to come across as being overly critical here, but the BBC has set a standard when it comes to documenaries covering issues in Thailand and anywhere else in Southeast Asia for that matter, so when someone like Stacey Dooley comes along, it's dangerous. As dippy as she may or may not be, people listen to Stacey. She's just a normal girl out discovering the world and unlike someone like Louis Theroux, who lets the facts speak for themselves, Stacey imposes herself on her subject matter and presents a distorted version of reality.
For anyone who hasn't seen it, it's on iPlayer, or else there are torrents available. Of course, I may be in the minority here. The Guardian gave Stacey a glowing review:
But I'm more interested in cutting-edge campaigning journalism, so I'm watching Thailand: Tourism and the Truth – Stacey Dooley Investigates (BBC3). What she finds really isn't nice – brutal working conditions, Mickey Mouse wages, rats. And locals being forced away from the homes they've always lived in by the inexorable spread of tourism.
The brilliant thing about Stacey is she doesn't stop at the expose; she then sets about making it right…
The lovely thing about Stacey is that she's so incredibly nice to everyone and polite. She's my new journalism idol; John Pilger, you are so over.
Stacey is setting out to make changes and bring awareness. So please, 'The Lost Boy', perhaps instead of being such a snobby critic, I suggest you applaud her for making a difference. Infact, as you have so much time on your hands to write such an article, maybe you should consider researching an issue and writing about it to encourage change. You're a great writer, but use it for good next time.
But I don't think she has made a difference. That's the problem. Where do you see her as having made a difference?
The main thing is that around the world, hotel cleaning is done by people on low wages.. Thailand is no exception. So, it is not clear what the point of the show was. No mention of the recent unrest.
PS…what was the music clip used when Stacey visits the hotel…about 4.5 mins in? Best bit was this music!
Txs
I think that Guardian review was written tongue-firmly-in-cheek…
I dunno. The Guardian has praised her before: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/oct/08/kids-with-guns-stacey-dooley-tv-review?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
I came across this browsing I-player and I have to say that if this is the future of 'journalism' then heaven help us all. The wide-eyed OMG shock horror whilst 'discovering' facts about the island which have been widely known for years and easily available to any one with a connection to the internet and an IQ of over 50, was both condescending and utterly annoying.
As far as I can gather the point of the documentary was that people work hard for little money. (although the fact that the hotel she chose to point this out in pays more than minimum wage and provides staff benefits, didn't really make much sense).
People have to make sacrifices and hard choices.
Sometimes 'the little man' gets mistreated by the big evil corporations.
Stupid people drink too much and take to many drugs, and sometimes they die.
If you have a camera crew and say you are from the BBC you can get an interview with someone who works in an office. He must be quaking in his boots after she promised to 'call him and call him and check up on him'.
But it was the simpering manner and patronising tone that antagonised me almost as much as the content content, or lack thereof. It must have taken hours for her to perfect that head slightly tilted, but constantly nodding, almost always on the very edge of tears, but only once or twice giving in to them.
If this is the standard fare from a BBC3 documentary then I am extremely dissapointed.
I'm with you, Hilly.