Vexed Bermoothes

Politics got around to reading the newspaper before me.  No doubt with a heavy dose of irony, today’s Royal Gazette has an ad recruiting a manager for “Bermuda’s newest daily newspaper” run by VistaMar Ltd.
This will be interesting given Dr. Brown’s pre-election hints about a pro-PLP newspaper.
In other news, PLP Newswire has announced it will […]

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Not The Royal Gazette.

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In the old days, Kremlin watchers would scrutinize who was allowed to view mayday from atop Lenin’s Tomb to see who held sway in the Politburo.  In Bermuda, you can tell what news is coming by who is announcing it:

If it is good news, the Premier Dr. the Hon. Ewart F. Brown will hold press […]

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Lots of Ministerial statements on the PLP website this week that do not appear on the Government media outlets.  As usual.
Here’s a nice reminder from Dr. Brown:
As you know, Mr. Speaker, we believe it is in the best interest of the country that a Press Council be established to create a code of ethics and […]

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Yesterday’s paper had a chirpy and cheery update from a local real estate agent.
The article claims that the average cost of a single family home is now just under a million. Meanwhile a January 2007 article from the same agency put the price at 1.325 million. That implies the average sales price of […]

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Government now has dozens of civil servants working in communications and public relations. It has also invested huge sums in building websites.
Yet, to read most statements from Government Ministers, given in their official capacity, one must visit the PLP website. These official statements do not appear on the Government website or CITV.
This blurring […]

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The UK’s The Guardian (whose paper edition attracts over 1.2 million readers per issue) covers the Bermuda Government’s “politically motivated” ad ban on the Royal Gazette in its website section on media freedom.
The Guardian joins a growing list that includes Association of Caribbean Media Workers, the Index on Censorship, the UK Press Gazette, Reporters […]

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Al Seymour has been writing weekly guest editorials in the Royal Gazette for a few months.  I enjoy them.
What appears to have gone wrong, and this could happen anywhere, is that poor public relations has left too many whispering and reaching their own conclusions on different matters. In other words, if people are not given […]

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A few months ago, when Dr. Brown started his self-proclaimed “war” on the Royal Gazette, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) was one of the first organisations to speak out.  They were answered by some condescending blahblah from the Cabinet Office.
Unfortunately, most Bermudians seem inclined to accept these brush offs from the autocrats. […]

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Another international media group has apparently written to the Premier to express serious concern at the Bermuda Government’s highly politicised decision to withdraw advertising from the Royal Gazette. This time it’s from the respected World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum. They know a little bit about freedom of the press, […]

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