Government MPs turned on the media on Friday, with a mixed bag of accusations of ulterior motives, incompetence and turning a blind eye to positive stories.

The most serious accusation came from ruling party backbencher who said that was ?evil? and, effectively, racist.

But the Bermuda Sun also came in for criticism for its lead story on Friday about Abdallah Ahad ? the former Bermuda College staffer whose academic credentials are being investigated.

?It?s about time they started writing something positive about our people... People of African descent,? Mr. Burgess said about .

Opposition United Bermuda Party started it all by referring repeatedly to newspaper articles to buttress their criticism of Government?s performance.

It was a tactic the Opposition had used frequently throughout the parliamentary session ? and it drew the same reaction from the Government on almost every occasion.

Shadow Education Minister demanded that Premier Alex Scott ask for Education Minister ?s resignation for telling the Bermuda Sun that ?if he (Mr. Ahad) is doing the job and doing it well, why should I be concerned ???

?If this is true, be the man and demand his resignation,? Mr. Darrell said, playing on widespread media reports of the Premier?s explanation of Renee Webb?s resignation.

?Be the man and find the report and tell the people of Bermuda what has been the outcome of the Abdallah Ahad inquiry. Is he the real deal or do we look for another??

Mr. Darrell, concerned that the report of Public Service Commission?s inquiry into Mr. Ahad would disappear into the ether, said the public had to know the outcome.

?Is this the man or do we look for another. We cannot trivialise the whole matter of the education of our children.?

Mr. Lister took the floor to say that the Abdallah Ahad controversy was the ?pet peeve? of Bermuda Sun reporter Meredith Ebbin.

?This reporter has taken it upon herself to make Mr. Ahad her pet peeve. This story has gone on and on,? he said.

He said he had not been aware that he was in an interview situation when the Bermuda Sun approached him at a function to recognise National Training Board awardees.

She had insisted on questioning him about Mr. Ahad?s fate, while he had insisted that she write a positive story about the event.

And Mr. Lister said the reporter admitted that she could not remember the last time she wrote a positive education story, and the NTB story was not in the paper.

?She?s here, invited by us to do the positive story and she can?t do it. This is not about shooting the messenger, it?s about the message itself.?

He said he was ?beyond disgusted? to see that the Ahad story had become the lead story and it included comments from an anonymous education official who said that it did not appear that Mr. Lister was concerned about the education of the children of working class Bermudians. ?I said to her, we are not going to discuss Ahad. I did not consider myself to be in an interview.?

Turning to the issue itself, Mr. Lister said that the matter was still before the PSC which had not yet made a final decision.

He said the question of whether Mr. Ahad was qualified for his post as an educational officer was separate from the question of whether he can do the job effectively on a day to day basis.

?To my knowledge the answer is yes. What Mr. Ahad is hired to do, he can do.?

But he said that the PSC should be satisfied Mr. Ahad has the proper qualifications and, if not, ?he should be asked to vacate the job.?

He stressed that the PSC had not made a final decision and was keen to let his colleagues know that there was nothing untoward going on.

?I cannot have an impact of what?s going on at the Sun. It surprises me that the Editor continues to put this on the front page. We?ve been telling them this week after week... There is no story until there is a story.?

Works Minister , upset at this newspaper?s recent coverage of the Bermuda Housing Corporation and Government?s purchase of GP cars, said that all legislators should encourage the media to be more responsible.

And the former court reporter offered this helpful advice to the press. ?Don?t run with a story because you heard it from some unnamed source or because it might help your side. If the media does not get the facts out, then you will get confusion.?

He said had got it wrong with the BHC story last week which reported that the quango?s chairman Charlton Dill was set to get $70,000 worth of work and had already been paid $20,000 for three months work last year.

?They released figures. They had no proof of these figures,? Mr. DeVent said.

?There were things quoted in that story that were not based on fact and when I attempted to put out a press release that addressed the facts, they still did not print the facts.?

Turning to his second complaint, he said he had issued a statement saying that 58 GP cars had been purchased since 1998, a handful of which were for transporting dignitaries, but the paper reported that all the cars had been purchased for that purpose. ?This is misleading, it?s wrong... It?s utter nonsense,? Mr. DeVent said.

?Politicians should be cautious about jumping on stories? for political purposes, he continued.

?We can sometimes find ourselves going up the wrong tree and sometimes end up with egg on our face.?

He said it was entirely possible that the story was an honest mistake on the part of the journalist ?but I?m beginning to think it was done intentionally.?

Mr. DeVent added that the media rarely reported positive developments and that was an approach which was not helpful in a country where many youth ?do not feel positive about themselves.?

?Too many Bermudians still see the glass as half empty instead of half full,? he continued,.,

?If we truly want to move ahead collectively as a country, we have to embrace that which is positive. We have to reinforce it and we have to continue to uplift it and it?s the responsible for us to push to ensure that our media becomes more responsible,? he said.

?Because when they print this type of stuff, it does none of us any good. It does the country no good. We need to focus on positive things.?