Transport Minister Terry Lister last night claimed that media reports of transport issues for cruise ship passengers in Dockyard had been “grossly over-exaggerated and sensationalised”.Mr Lister said: “Having received several positive reports of cruise ship visitors’ experiences in Dockyard, I have to question the fairness of The Royal Gazette after two stories ‘Fuming tourists brand bus and ferry system ‘a joke’’ and ‘This is a shambles, everyone is getting mad’ were published in the newspaper on Tuesday, May 3, 2011.”The Minister said that he had not been questioned by the newspaper on “bus scheduling, ferry scheduling, frustrated tourists, rude dispatchers or any other issues that were contained in the stories”.Mr Lister quoted the hotel director of a cruise ship that arrived in Dockyard on Saturday, saying that visitors “did not encounter issues related to transportation”.Tuesday’s articles described conditions in Dockyard on Monday morning.Responding to the Minister’s comments, Editor Bill Zuill said: “The Royal Gazette stands by its stories of Tuesday, May 3, 2011 on the frustrations experienced by cruise ship passengers in Dockyard. They have accurately reflected the frustration that the cruise ship passengers experienced on that day.“I have already acknowledged in correspondence with Mr Lister’s spokesman that we should have sought comment from the Transport Ministry on the problems and have apologised. I also proposed a statement that would acknowledge that, but received no response.“For the avoidance of doubt, I now acknowledge publicly that we should have sought a comment on Monday and apologise to Mr Lister for not doing so.“It is worth noting that we received a statement from Mr Lister on Tuesday evening and reported fully on it in Wednesday’s newspaper.”Mr Zuill added: “We have never reported that all cruise ship passengers have experienced problems with public transport, or that every cruise ship visit has had problems. But our reporting has shown that there have been difficulties with the provision of public transport and our reporting has shown that some visitors have been very frustrated. It is the media’s function to report on problems as they arise and to report on what is being done about them. We make no apology for that.”