Vexed Bermoothes

Dr. Brown has responded to IAPA’s criticism with a letter that oozes with false sincerity and contorted logic.

There is a further point that I would like to make personally because I am a former newspaperman. I know that newspapers around the world have seen a decline in readership and advertising. If that global trend is not a systematic attempt to be “contrary to freedom of the press,” I submit that our government’s decision is also not “contrary to the freedom of the press”. This action on our part is merely a sign of the times. Bermuda and its media are not immune. In fact one could argue The Royal Gazette has been complacent during its decades of success while other newspapers around the world were cutting resources. The last time the Government offered its Official Gazette contract The Royal Gazette chose to not even compete. Additionally, when we announced our cost cutting measures last month, no one from The Royal Gazette directly approached the Cabinet Office to discuss new pricing options for our bulk subscriptions or bulk advertising. As a customer, those two moves told us The Royal Gazette did not need our business. If that is indeed the case, I am hard-pressed to figure out how the government’s decision to curtail advertising and suspend subscriptions “severely restricts freedom of the press” …

Finally, allow me to thank your organisation for its interest in the economics of journalism in Bermuda. We now invite you to monitor closely the quality of journalism on our Island.

Creepy. The local news had explicit references to the Royal Gazette being willing to negotiate with Government about its spending. And in whose dreams is Government is cost cutting?!  And does this mean that Government is willing to put the Official Gazette out to tender in a proper transparent process?