Vexed Bermoothes

In Bermuda, the PLP tactics to “punish” the Royal Gazette are being met with an exasperated shrug. Elsewhere, the move to use Government resources to impede a free press is attracting shocked attention.

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has sent a letter of complaint to Dr. Ewart Brown on the matter.

Honorable Dr. Brown,

On behalf of more than 1,300 print publications belonging to our organization we are writing to express to you our deepest concern at the complaints made about your government with regard to the use of government advertising as a means to reward or punish the news media, a matter that we deplore as being contrary to freedom of the press, as enshrined in the Declaration of Chapultepec and in the Organization of American States’ Declaration of Principles of Freedom of Expression.

The IAPA understands that every government has a duty to use the resources of its citizens in the most efficient way, although we would request in such actions transparency and the employment of purely technical criteria, so that there may be no doubt that the media were being rewarded or punished by reason of their editorial policies.

Following the public announcements made by your government there has been no indication of the kind of methodology used in the placement of official advertising. In view of this, and of the fact that discrimination in the placement of that advertising severely restricts freedom of the press, we would respectfully ask you to review the action taken by your government against The Royal Gazette and other media in your country.

With the hope that freedom of the press will be observed, we remain,

Your sincerely,

Earl Maucker, President
Gonzalo Marroquín, Chairman, Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information

It’s really quite an embarrassment for Bermuda to be singled out for this criticism … to be grouped in with countries that sponsor censorship, violence against journalists, and aggression towards free speech.