A business report on Bermuda to run on financial news network CNBC is likely to reach millions of viewers - and may dispel some of the criticism being thrown at the Island by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

The 30-minute report, currently under production by World Television Report, is slated to run later in the year. An exact date has not yet been given but it will be "towards the end of the second quarter," said producer Romy Heldsinger.

With the report to run on two CNBC networks - CNBC World and CNBC Europe - viewers across the globe including the Middle East, Africa, Europe and America will be reached.

Ms Heldsinger and fellow producer David Terzis are on the Island for the next fortnight taping the programme which is to include interviews with Government officials and business leaders.

CNBC research shows that its network reaches 135 million homes around the world. It is also reportedly watched by 5.25 million of American and Europe's top earners and business decision makers.

Reports such as this one on Bermuda reportedly hit a note with the network's audience of mainly business executives given that 40 percent of CNBC's audience - with 18 million and 5.7 million of the network's audience concentrated in the US and UK - holding financial investments outside of their own countries.

Ms Heldsinger, who is based in South Africa, and Mr. Terzis, who is based in Holland, said John Kerry's anti-Bermuda rhetoric - with Mr. Kerry vowing to shut down the so-called Bermuda tax loophole as he battles for the Oval Office - had reverberated around the world.

But she said the programme would show the world that Bermuda is a leading financial centre.

She said research showed that Bermuda had earned its place as a front-running business centre in its compliance with OECD regulations, its sophisticated corporate management services, legal system based on British common law, top telecom infrastructure and the fact that more than 85 of the Fortune 100 companies have operations in Bermuda.

She pointed out that corporations have bona fide operations here - a far cry from the political picture being painted in the US of an Island doing a thriving trade in mail-drop corporations.

"There is this perception of companies only having post boxes here; we will show them just the opposite," Ms Heldsinger said.

The programme will look at the Island's reinsurance and insurance sectors, financial services industry, and will include a segment on tourism and e-commerce, and the state of Bermuda's real estate sector.

So far, Ms Heldsinger and Mr. Terzis have met with or have meetings slated with Premier Alex Scott, Deputy Premier Dr. Ewart Brown, Tourism and E-Commerce Minister Renee Webb and Education Minister Terry Lister.

In the business sector, they have met with a number of company CEOs as well as the Bermuda Stock Exchange and Bermuda International Business Association.

The pair, who have worked together on previous assignments, see their job take them to distant corners of the world.

Recently they have worked on reports in Malta, Bahrain, the Bahamas and now Bermuda.

Ms Heldsinger said CNBC was a leading business channel, with viewers using the network as a business tool.

Besides business reports the financial news network carries live reports on the world's stock markets.