About Okke Ornstein
Okke Ornstein was born on July 31st, 1965, in Amstelveen, a suburb of Amsterdam, and grew up in Doorn before moving back to Amsterdam and later the Gooi & Vechtstreek. He studied political science while working at the KGCA, a training center for workers and student councils, heading a project concerning the implementation of a new law which established participatory democracy in the school system (medezeggenschapsraden). As such, he was involved in starting up a students watchdog organization and the Dutch chapter of Defence for Children International.
He then moved on to study photography and work as a free-lance video editor for various post-production houses, specializing in editing of documentaries and documentary-style TV programs. In 1989 he became a free-lance RTV producer for advertising agency McCann-Erickson, working there for over a year on radio and television commercials for such clients as Coca Cola, Black & Decker, the World Wildlife Fund, Canon, GoodYear and the Reynolds Tobacco Company. When the latter was no longer willing to supply him with his daily fix of free Camel cigarettes, Ornstein left and returned to editing, mostly with the unsurpassed John Kok Video Facilities.
He then decided that he wanted to be a director, and started with Taxi, the highly successful TV show that IDTV produced for the NCRV with Maarten Spanjer as the taxi driver, and which would become a worldwide hit. Taxi won a Golden Rose at the prestigious Montreux Television festival, and subsequently the format was sold all over the world. In the US it’s known as “Taxicab Confessions”, produced by HBO.
From then on, Ornstein directed one program after the other. To name just a few:
- Urbania, which won the Prix Iris Europe and is now a European format known as “City Folks”;
- Spanjer, a series with actor Maarten Spanjer participating in new age therapies and traveling to strange places with Dutch stars such as Gert & Hermien and Rijk de Gooijer. We also organized the world’s first Olympic Winter Games for the Disabled;
- Nieuw Nederlands Peil, a magazine-style program about sustainable development and responsible entrepreneurship;
- Mayday, a documentary series about the Royal Lifeboat Service;
- Post 4, a documentary series best described as the reality version of BayWatch;
- Gefundenes Fressen, an alternative cooking show with popular biologist Midas Dekkers.
- Handelaar in Jongensdroom, documentary about Porsche salesmen;
- De Bus, the highly controversial reality show first aired by SBS6, best seen as Big Brother on wheels.
Ornstein also produced various corporate and educational videos.
For over a year, Ornstein hosted radio shows with Talkradio, pioneering the talk-format in Holland where it had been unknown previously, until the station was transformed into Business News Radio. He also wrote articles and interviews for newspapers and magazines, ranging from Het Parool to Joods Journaal.
In mid 2000, the small Kingdom of The Netherlands woke up to the news that its most famous female mafia-boss, Thea “Godmother” Moear, had been arrested in Panama on accusations of XTC trafficking, and Ornstein, as he had many good contacts in the tropical banana republic already, convinced RTL News to send him there to report on events, which he has continued to do, also for other Dutch media. That one trip evolved into many more, and eventually Ornstein made Panama his base of operations. He has since written and continues to write for various publications ranging from the Narco News Bulletin to The Panama News, El Siglo, Het Parool and NewsMax. For the latter he also reported from Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2006.
Ornstein gained a reputation as a tough investigative reporter in Panama conducting high-profile cross-border fraud and corruption investigations. Many stories he published were picked up by other media in Panama and abroad. For example, investigations into Tom McMurrain’s teak and noni swindle; the Prime Forestry mafia-related teak scam that was being promoted by the Panamanian president; the involvement of a former KKK chief in the Emerald Passport MLM scheme all made headlines elsewhere after Ornstein had published about them first.
Meanwhile, he made many new friends running two highly controversial websites, Noriegaville News and Bananama Republic – which both suffered from hack attacks and netted the author many a criminal libel complaint from the crooks being exposed, none of which ever went anywhere. Threats and harrassment typically don’t impress Ornstein much either. An attempt by Ornstein to start a socially responsible investment fund, on the other hand, went absolutely nowhere.
Ornstein is also a correspondent for Dutch radio and is consulted regularly by NGO’s, politicians and diplomats on Panama related issues.
In 2008, Ornstein worked as a media and strategy consultant for the election campaign of Dr. Miguel Antonio Bernal, who ran for mayor of Panama City. Other consulting work Ornstein is currently doing is related to media matters, real estate and sustainable development.
In 2010 he became co-owner and publisher at Paraguas Books, a publishing company that seeks to bring new literary talent from throughout the Américas to the market.
Ornstein speaks six languages and actually has things to say in them. He’s also a licensed yacht master, Air Baron and advanced scuba diver.
Email: okke@ornstein.org
Panama: +507 6250 0338
Panama: +507 836 5133 # 744
New York: +1 646 3401015
Netherlands: +31 30 890 3456
Netherlands: +31 848 354 070
