The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I, like many Bahamians, sat on my couch on Monday evening shocked that the “No” vote overwhelmed the referendum. So too I believe were the hosts on our various TV stations. I chose to watch Cable 12 and was highly entertained by Darold Miller’s 360 degree turn around and George Smith’s hysterical “blame everyone” but the government. Who, by the way, I believe had clearly totally confused the electorate.

So the next day on the talk shows I expected to hear various commentary and maybe a little humble pie.

Especially as many of the supposedly “journalistic” hosts were so blatantly “Yes” biased. But what I did not expect was to be called a loser by Wendell Jones and his team of obnoxious panel personalities. When one loses a vote or let’s say an election, one does not spend the next day demeaning those who voted against them. Well, at least those with class don’t!

I listened in shock as Mr Jones called all Bahamians who voted “No” losers and spent two hours laughing at those they felt had not made the right decision. Jones, Algernon Allen and Eric “Bumpy” Watkins spent the two hours talking about how web shops should be legal and why people should have voted yes.

They (unlike Bodie) did not even bother to have a “No” advocate on the panel – they just spent the entire show complaining about the idiotic people who voted “No”. To add to that, Allen was pulling a “Jones” on all callers and only listening to the ones he agreed with and hanging up or disconnecting “No” callers. A habit Mr Jones perfected over the last two weeks and on the last day even had a “headache” on air as he could not deign himself to speak to people who disagreed with him!

According to Wikipedia, it says that journalistic ethics usually include truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness and public accountability — as these apply to the acquisition of newsworthy information and its subsequent dissemination to the public.

I did not hear any accuracy, objectivity or one bit of impartiality on Love 97 this week, or in fact have I for the last few weeks.

As they say when you take your loss, take it like a man! Mr Jones, I am not a loser but you may be!

QUEENIE PATTY

Nassau,

February 5, 2013.