Cancers and all
public begin to take aim at the media. Whatever the problem, it's the fault of the media, the fault of the Press, the fault of The Royal Gazette .
We have already heard that one major political figure is going about saying that if the United Bermuda Party loses the next election it will be The Royal Gazette's fault. The truth is that if the UBP loses the next election it will be because they ignored the sharp warning they received when they nearly lost the last time. They wasted four years on unnecessary complications, political splits and general turmoil resulting from the Independence Referendum and the McDonald's debate. The Royal Gazette reported those problems but it did not create them.
This week we in the media were accused by the Executive Director of the Human Rights Commission of "perpetuating racism''. That's a strange kind of nebulous accusation which he was unable or unwilling to explain when we asked, making it very difficult for us to address. Does The Royal Gazette perpetuate racism? Certainly not knowingly. We live in a society where there is racism.
Any newspaper reflects the society it reports on, cancers and all. It may well be that this newspaper is perceived as perpetuating racism simply because it reports on the cancer of racism. Blaming The Royal Gazette is the old trick of shooting the messenger. That is very easy for people to do because as long as they can blame someone else then they do not have to shoulder any responsibility themselves.
Bermuda's jails are not full of young black men because The Royal Gazette reports that the jails are full of young black men. The jails are full of young black men because there are problems in this society and racism may well play a part in putting young black men in jail. We believe that Bermuda's courts are much more likely to jail young black men than they are to jail young white men for similar offences. That is a problem which is reflected in Royal Gazette reporting of the courts but it has to be addressed in the court system and not blamed on The Royal Gazette .
Editors and reporters on Par-la-Ville Road try very hard to reflect Bermuda without giving offence. But we have to reflect Bermuda the way it is, not the perfect Island we would all like to have but the real Island we do have. We are the last people to say that we always get it right or that we do not make mistakes but we are not sitting about in offices planning to perpetuate racism or anything else evil.
We are well aware that as the election approaches we will be under heavy fire again. Whichever party loses will probably blame The Royal Gazette , not their policies, their mistakes or their candidates. In the meantime we will go on doing the best we can, producing a very fine small newspaper and reflecting Bermuda, cancers and all.