The Tribune

AS WE understand it the recent meeting between the Prime Minister — who was accompanied by at least seven of his Cabinet ministers — and the owners of The Nassau Guardian was meant to be a discussion about Mr Christie’s vision for the Bahamas. However, it ended in what is of even more concern to his ministers – “why can’t we get a friendly press?”

The problem with politicians is that they are so busy “slanting” their stories and manipulating their own gutter “press” that they fail to realise that the legitimate press operates on completely different principles. The object of the mainstream press is to print the news as it is, not to slant or twist it to fit someone’s political agenda. The truth in the hands of a propagandist is so mangled that it has little or no relevance. However, propaganda is the instrument that politicians use to hoodwink their constituents — those whom they lovingly call the “grassroots.”

Recently, some of our reporters decided to move about in the inner cities to discover what the “grassroots” are really thinking — not what the politicians would like our readers to believe they are thinking. Our reporters have discovered to their surprise that although these people might be poor, lacking in education and skills, they have much “mother’s wit” and are filled with resentment. According to them, it is the politician who is keeping them down. It’s the politician who has made them dependent on him for every crust of bread they put in their mouths. They are aware of the politician’s empty promises, but afraid that if they don’t vote the party ticket they will be even worse off. Every fibre of their body resents the position they find themselves in. “It ain’t what you know,” our reporters were told, “it’s who you know.” Daily many see others less qualified than themselves getting jobs they feel they should have.

Yes, there is a dangerous and angry undercurrent out there.

What the politician must realise is that they make the news, the newspapers report it. If they do not like what is reported, they have only themselves to blame. If they want a more “positive” press then they have to make more positive news — not the recent fiasco that has been handled so badly that it is now known as the “Cuban scandal”. A scandal, rather than going away, is only getting worse. But more on that later.

However, a Tribune reporter, who according to the PLP mouthpiece, Bahamasuncensored – formerly Fred Mitchell uncensored – is “normally accurate and truthful”, had now written an article in The Tribune “riddled with untruths”.

When this reporter telephoned Mr Mitchell to ask about the meeting with the Guardian and whether it was true that the Freedom of Information Act was being shelved, he refused to answer any questions until she had corrected “errors” in an article about the Cuban episode in which he and Dr Nottage had been quoted.

In fact in the September 12 article of which Mr Mitchell complained, the quote attributed to him was first published in The Tribune on September 2 under the byline of the same reporter who was – according to the PLP mouthpiece – “normally accurate and truthful.”

In the September 2 article, Mr Mitchell was quoted as saying that government would release “not only the findings of the investigation into the Cuban detainee abuse claims, but also make public the results of the earlier probe ordered by the former FNM administration”.

However, he apparently had tremendous difficulty with the article written by the same reporter on September 12 in which it was stated: “Meanwhile, Dr Nottage’s commitment to release ‘bits and pieces’ of the probe was itself a retreat from the position asserted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell, who promised to release the entire report, along with a report into the detention centre conducted by the former government.”

Dr Nottage had promised to release the “bits and pieces” that week, but failed to do so. The week referred to started on September 9, the article complained of was published on September 12. To date, Mr Mitchell has not released the entire report, and Dr Nottage is yet to release his “bits and pieces”. However, in the same September 12 article, Prime Minister Christie assured the press that an “announcement would be made soon”. Press and public are still waiting.

However, Mr Mitchell is not only denying his own statement first published on September 2 with no objections, but he is also denying Dr Nottage’s statement. Although a transcript of the tape recording of Dr Nottage’s words — in the context in which they were made —was sent to Mr Mitchell, apparently he still persists in his denial of them having been made. He has gone further to tell our reporter that he will answer no more questions from her until a correction is made. The poor reporter is puzzled. She is still trying to find what is incorrect in what the tapes are telling her is correct.

As if this is not bad enough, the PLP propaganda mouthpiece has concocted a lie of its own. It claims that The Tribune’s “foreign managing editor” rewrote the reporter’s story because he and his publisher are on a “witch hunt” and are “smarting” from Immigration issues. According to the propagandist, they are “determined that they will personally attack Fred Mitchell at every turn, even to the point of making up lies”. There is not one word of truth in this statement.

The fact is that the Managing Editor had nothing to do with this particular story. He did not even see it before it went to print, because it was not up for editing on his shift. However, it was edited by a Bahamian editor — who in editing might have changed some of the sentence construction, but none of the facts. The paragraphs referring to Messrs Mitchell and Nottage were not touched. That’s what editors are for, but the PLP have chosen to dismiss our Bahamian editors, and have decided to unfairly smear the one foreigner in their midst. We have a device that can monitor who touches every article from the time it leaves a reporter’s screen until it goes to press. The monitor shows that only Bahamian hands passed this article down the line — there was no foreign interference.

Incidentally, although the managing editor had difficulty with his work permit, Immigration granted it in the end.

Also, unlike the idle hands of these unqualified critics, real journalists and editors are too busy meeting deadlines to have time to concoct personal attacks on anyone.

Unfortunately, in the words of the great bard himself, we are dealing with little men “dress’d in a little brief authority”. We dismiss all of them and their theories with the contempt that they deserve — we are too busy to either play their games or tolerate their pettiness.