Mr. David L. White, Editor of the Royal Gazette .

" The Royal Gazette sets the agenda, I have no doubts about that. By and large the paper has made every effort to play its part in the racial integration of Bermuda, going back to the very early days of segregation when anonymous letters to the Editor were the only real outlet that black Bermudians had.'' The Royal Gazette hires every qualified Bermudian that it can find. What it does not get credit for, said Mr. White, is that the rest of the media in Bermuda is staffed by people trained at the Gazette . This goes from everyone from Paula Cox (the PLP's public relations officer) to Gavin Shorto.

"What has happened to us is that in recent years young black Bermudians who had the education and intelligence that is required have been able to do much better financially somewhere else in Bermuda, because the media in Bermuda does not pay particularly well.

"Young black Bermudians have tended to gravitate to places where they can make a better living.'' He added: "It has been my aim for 20 years to Bermudianise The Royal Gazette . I have not succeeded, although the number of Bermudians in this organisation is a huge improvement on what I found when I came here.

"I hire qualified people to report the news in Bermuda. I do not pay any attention to whether they are black or white.'' A newspaper, said Mr. White, reflects the community in which it lives. " The Royal Gazette often gets blamed for reporting things that unfairly reflect on black people.

"I would have thought that The Royal Gazette carries more good news than most newspapers in the world. We still carry things that a lot of papers have given up on -- prize presentations and graduations.

"If you look at the tremendous number of young blacks carried in the `People' columns, it far exceeds the number carried in the court columns.'' Mr. White, who has been Editor for almost 20 years, said readership surveys showed the paper's credibility is very high among white and black people. The paper also has the highest readership, or population penetration, of any English language newspaper, with sales increasing from about 10,000 to about 18,000 since Mr. White arrived at the helm.

"I think that The Royal Gazette has to reflect the community. The Royal Gazette ought to be slightly ahead of public thinking and I think we are slightly ahead of general public thinking,'' added the Editor.

Strive to give all a forum From Page 7 "We are not, however, a radical newspaper. Some who criticise us expect us to be a radical newspaper and we are not going to be.

"I think our role is to give everyone a forum and I think we do that. I do not think there is any racial problem involved in that whatsoever. Anyone who wants a forum in The Royal Gazette can have one.'' He said The Royal Gazette is not a socialist newspaper. "I am however a liberal running a newspaper with a basically conservative ownership. The editorial columns on this newspaper, unlike the PLP, have supported every liberal cause in this country for the last 20 years.'' On the race card, Mr. White said: "I think that we allow black people to play race cards that we would never allow white people to play. There are politicians who use that all the time, the politicians who are politicising the Police Force.'' He adds: "I suspect this newspaper is always going to be criticised no matter what it does simply because it is the only daily. I have a lot of problems, myself, with the overwhelming impact that The Royal Gazette has on this society, but a lot of that is not our fault.

"When you live in a country with a broadcast media spending the morning reading your news and most of the afternoon and evening allowing people to respond to your news the impact that you have in that country is out of proportion to what it ought to be, but that is not my fault.

"I have never enjoyed the power of The Royal Gazette .''