Dear Sir,

Like so many countries, we Bermudians were reminded just how important the role of the media and open stakeholder discussion is for democracies when countries are making important decisions.

I would encourage your readers to read Christian Amanpour’s article recently on CNN online, titled “Brexit: Truth, myths and media ‘neutrality’.”

The following are selected excerpts:

“Throughout the whole (Brexit) campaign, you could turn on any news programme and the desperation for balance, objectivity and neutrality caused highly intelligent journalists to mostly treat Remain leaders from the Prime Minister on down like criminals.”

“While the Leave side, which did not have a plan, as we also now know — which refused even to accept there would be uncertainty ahead of a vote out of the EU — was mostly treated with kidgloves and credulity.”

“An Oxford University study from May, cited by The New York Times, found during a sample two-day period early in the campaign, “of the 928 articles focused on the referendum 45 per cent were in favour of leaving, with only 27 per cent in favour of staying in the EU.”

And The Economist published an incredible chart cataloguing the mountain of lies told by the tabloid press.

Amanpour: “The war that I covered in Bosnia taught me to reject the deadly lies told by the parties to the conflict, and the false claims by Western governments and armchair intellectuals at the time ... It taught me to respect the truth, to speak truth to power, and keep insisting on digging for the facts and the empirical evidence.”

Since Brexit, the international media has concluded that immigration concerns primarily drove the “leave” vote. Immigration is, of course, a critical issue for Bermuda and for many regions/countries, including all of Europe, the United States, Canada and most of the developed world.

Countries must seek fair and balanced immigration policies, encouraging growth and job opportunities for local residents while attracting talented employment and capital-creating internationals.

The right balance helps to propel growth and opportunities to succeed. However, agreeing what the right immigration policy balance is always difficult and is an emotional issue for virtually every country, including ours.

To be continued ...

BERMUDA BUSINESSMAN