Vexed Bermoothes

BNN is a funny animal.  It seems to me that the site is silent until Walton stumbles across something in Senate or the PLP grapevine.  Is BNN a blog, a news website, or just the “PLP Newswire”? I have to laugh about this headline: Proposed UBP Bill Could See Voters Struck From Register This is [...]

[Read more →]

As promised, the largest Bermuda media companies have adopted a common Code of Practice aimed at setting a “benchmark for ethical standards, protecting both the rights of the individual and the public’s right to know”. It has been presented to Premier, along with a plan to get a Media Council up and running by September [...]

[Read more →]

In his statement regarding the controversial Media Council Bill on Friday, Dr. Brown claimed: “The media council, as proposed by this Government, achieves that and, as international media organisations have determined, does not even come close to threatening the freedom of the press.” MP John Barritt called him out on that claim gaining the following [...]

[Read more →]

After making his statement in Parliament this morning, parking the controversial Media Council draft law, the PLP blog and Dr. Brown’s Facebook added some additional tweaks: “The Media Council as proposed by this Government achieves that goal and as International Media Organizations have determined does not even come close to threatening the freedom of the [...]

[Read more →]

Dr Brown has announced in Parliament this morning that he will “hold” his proposed Media Council Bill 2010 while the media proposes their own self-regulatory option.  The draft law remains on the Order Paper (meaning that it can be voted on at any time), but the Premier says he will drop it if and when [...]

[Read more →]

The five largest members of Bermuda’s press corps – Bermuda Broadcasting, Bermuda Sun, DeFontes Broadcasting, Inter-Island, and the Royal Gazette – have announced that they will: jointly sign and adopt a Code of Practice by June 8, 2010 form a self-regulated media council by September 14, 2010 They say that other local media and news [...]

[Read more →]

So much could go wrong with the political interference that is so deeply embedded in the draft Media Council Bill.  So, comments like this from the Minister for Loose Cannons hardly leave a warm fuzzy feeling for most Bermudians, as well as our international partners looking for a glimmer of that Gold Standard™ we are [...]

[Read more →]

Another international group focussed on human rights and free speech has criticised Dr. Brown’s Media Council Bill, and its potential to muzzle the free press in Bermuda against the standards of international law.  The Centre for Law and Democracy has written a letter to all 36 Bermuda MPs asking them to consider halting the proposed [...]

[Read more →]

There seems to be a new trend of statements from “a Government spokesman, who would not be named”.  How can someone be an official spokesman if they demand anonymity? Government insists that it has modelled the Media Council Bill on the UK Press Complaints Commission. Certainly some of the words have been borrowed, but certainly [...]

[Read more →]

Bermudians are remarkably forgiving of our political leaders hijinks even when they cost us serious money, damage our economy, and erode our rights. Outsiders, however, often see clearly when things are not right. The director of the International Press Institute just published a scathing blogitorial on Dr. Brown’s Media Suppression Bill. Although the media are [...]

[Read more →]