Government has included a four-paragraph guideline for the media to adhere to in its newly released code of ethics and conduct.

All of the Island?s electronic, print and broadcast media have now been urged to ?inform accurately, consult widely, discuss fairly and present in a positive and non-prejudicial manner items of public interests that pertain to sport ?.

However, editor Bill Zuill yesterday took issue with the guidelines, arguing the media should have had a role to play in the process of formulating a code of ethics and conduct for sport in Bermuda.

?I don?t have any disagreement with the code of ethics and conduct for sport and media coverage in general or any other area in particular. But I am disappointed that although the Ministry says that it consulted with the national sports governing bodies it did not, to the best of my knowledge, consult with media organisations themselves with regard to media coverage,? he said, shortly after Government released the 16-page handbook yesterday.

?And I think unfortunately in a couple of cases in the code, as it?s listed, that?s fairly obvious because there are a couple of red flags that we would have discussed and perhaps cleared up had we been consulted.

?Specifically, I don?t think the code as it is enunciated here always recognises pressures that journalists face in terms of deadlines, space requirements and so forth. And I think this is something that we could have worked out specifically.

?It all sounds pretty good but it is very general and broad and when you get down to definitions and practical matters of covering sports or anything else life tends to get a bit more complicated. And I don?t know if they have looked at that as closely as they could have.?

Mr.Zuill also questioned the newly-released guidelines for the media to follow.

?I don?t think all the details have been thought out as well as they should have been and I am a little concerned about the idea stories should be relentlessly positive because I think the definition of positiveness is pretty much in the eyes of the beholder,? he argued.?For example, if two players in a match got into a fight on the pitch and someone was badly injured as a result, I?m not quite sure how the code envisions we could positively cover that. ?Clearly this is a negative issue and a negative problem and it would be difficult to cover it in any other way.?

The media?s job has always entailed covering stories in an ?accurate? and ?non-prejudicial? manner, said Mr.Zuill.

?Clearly you always have to balance the public?s right to know against an individual?s right to privacy,? he added. ?But it?s worth remembering though that when sportsmen in particular go out to play in public they do to some extent become public figures and we do have a right and entitlement to ask them questions about their behaviour as it relates to sport and their public presence.

?I would be very happy to talk to Government to see if we can sort some of these things out. But at this stage we haven?t been consulted and so any suggestion that we will or won?t accept and honour it remains up in the air.?