October 18, 2013Dear Sir,Bermudians will have listened with some surprise recently to the Finance Minister, Hon. ET Bob Richards, trying on ZBM-News to defend the statement that the country was a few days away from being unable to pay its bills during the first days after the OBA first took over the Government.ZBM had quoted two anonymous civil servants in the Ministry of Finance as having said that was an untruth.I thought the Minister explained the situation well. If there had been any doubt in my mind about whether the Government had lied, or exaggerated, it would have been dispelled as a result of the Minister’s statement. Mr Richards attacked the sources of the story, saying he doubted they understood the issue well enough to have made the allegations they did.Towards the end of its story, ZBM defended itself, saying that it often used anonymous sources, and that it had satisfied itself that the two it had quoted were bona fide.The ZBM reporter did not, however, use a paragraph of the Minister’s statement, which seems highly important to me. He said “ … I am beseeching members of the … press, it serves the public interest if your reports are accurate and your research is thorough. If this economy is to be turned around, confidence in the government is a prerequisite, both locally and overseas. I believe we have restored much confidence by straight talk and candour. We cannot, at this crucial time, have the government denigrated by would-be Wizards of Oz who hide behind curtains and execute an agenda of who knows what.”ZBM does very often use anonymous sources. We have all heard allegations aired during the news that could have been plucked from the air, for all we know about where they come from. The One Bermuda Alliance has been the subject of anonymous, unpleasant allegations on many an occasion. We feel such stories are inevitably written so that the sources appear to be the good guys, if I can put it that way, while those about whom the allegations are made are the bad guys.The importance of identifying sources is well known in the news business all over the world. Many news outlets take enormous trouble to make sure quoting sources anonymously is a last resort. The Media Council of Bermuda acknowledges the difficulty in its code of practice. The Council says this on that subject: “Bermuda journalists … have a duty to take reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that anonymous sources are well informed, have sound motives and that the information they provide is accurate.“Sources shall be identified whenever feasible and when anonymity is granted, an explanation shall be provided. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources’ reliability, short of compromising promised anonymity.”I don’t for a moment want to prevent ZBM, or any other news outlet, from having the option to use unnamed sources if there is no other way of publishing an important story. But I do think the media ought to use them only in cases where the story is important to the public interest, and there is no other choice. A semantical argument about whether the Minister knows better than his employees what an economic emergency is just does not qualify, in my view.I call on ZBM-News and all media to tighten up policy on anonymity so that the “Wizards of Oz” of the world aren’t provided with an easy opportunity to scratch someone’s eyes out whenever they feel like it.BERMUDIANS, we need to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, so let’s all pull together to put Bermuda out there in the best light, stay honest, ensure that our motives are honourable, and help the rest of the world see Bermuda as it is — a welcoming, friendly, safe place to visit and do business.Sincerely,D MARTIN