Editor of the Bermuda Sun.

The old adage rings true, he says. "News is news is news is news.'' That news, though, can be unwittingly tinged because of a person's cultural background.

"One should write it as a news story. The media cannot do a lot more,'' he said. But everyone carries their own bias -- a white person will be a white person even if he or she tries to be fair.

To an extent then, the media promotes the race division -- through its credibility as perceived by the community.

"Everyone carries their own bias so a white person is going to be a white person even though he tries to be completely fair. He will have been hanging around white people.

"A newsroom should reflect the diversity of the community it serves. There is still a lot of work to be done in that regard. Even when someone tries to be fair, it is impossible to be completely fair.

"The Gazette is definitely whiter than Bermuda and you can see it in the news pages, it is not malicious but it is something that would alter if the paper's reporting staff was three-quarters black.

"Imagine a black reporter saying 90 percent of people at court are black and imagine a white reporter saying the same thing. The credibility changes.

"If it is a black reporter that someone believes and trusts, with a lot of people he will have a lot more credibility. Credibility of the person and newspaper reflects how it is seen by the readers and what is believed.'' What do you do about it? He believes it would be smart for the media to talk more amongst themselves. The Gazette and the media, generally, could make an effort at covering complex issues, with less resources concentrated on breaking hard news stories -- of which there are few in Bermuda.

"Not having enough hard news means there is a tendency for newspapers or TV to exaggerate what hard news they have which can end up inflaming minor controversies.'' He added: "Another thing is letting people spout off untruths or unproven things. We allow ourselves to be led. The media always allows itself to be led, it's easy and quick.'' He suggested talks within the office -- if there was debate among reporters, in TV and newspapers, there would be better stories and better story ideas.

Also if Bermudians want the media to play a role in ending racial divisions it means being open and co-operative with the Press, even Bermudians are not used to it.

On credibility, he said: "There are a lot of things the paper could do to make sure it opened up its pages more -- not print anonymous letters for instance.

"It ought to be possible to focus a bit more attention on more detailed work.

Also make the community feel more of a part of the newspaper, for instance through opinion columns and talking to community groups.''