Earlier today the PLP website quietly deleted the whole section of their post from Thursday where they engaged in a ridiculous and factually devoid attack on a number of people and organisations, including myself.
Presumably someone with some political sense, common sense, but most importantly a legal background, advised them of the potential perils of leaving that post up there.
What remains is what they should have had the political sense to write in the first place. There was no upside to the desperate and manufactured cheap shots at people unaffiliated with the BDA.
Magnanimity would have played so much better than a post that displayed a complete lack of class and suggested they felt threatened.
Most importantly this incident encompassed so much of what is wrong with the whole political environment in Bermuda. It highlights why the debate about free speech, freedom of the press and responsible journalism, as discussed at the HRC forum the other night demands further examination.
I should also say that I was extremely disappointed that Bermuda Broadcasting appears to have been the only news entity which lacked the professional to report that statement on air in its entirety, verbatim.
The Gazette ignored it, as did VSB as far as I'm aware. The Sun ignored the offending sections and reported the appropriate part, all displaying their journalistic credentials, professionalism and common sense.
Bermuda Broadcasting ran it with no fact-checking, no consideration of the unfounded character attacks and no consideration to the individuals subjected to the character attacks.
At best it was lazy, at worst it was unprofessional. It certainly wasn't journalism.
What it was is a shining example of what I referred to a few posts ago as what happens when the press fall victim to one party's relentless attacks on the press as biased, "working the refs" in a political system. They "madly try to split the difference" in a misplaced attempt to show balance.
Balance, fairness and objectivity is not simply repeating whatever both sides say, no matter how ridiculous, no matter how disconnected from reality it is. It doesn't matter if you attribute it as a direct quote. That doesn't give you a free pass to report utter libelous nonsense or play off complete fiction as a credible argument.
As someone emailed me today they said:
Like you say, play the refs. It's not necessary to be "balanced" when one side is crazy.
It's even worse that the PLP website posts these attacks anonymously and the press reports on them. The press should quite simply ignore anything that comes from a political party without a name attached to it.
Someone has to be accountable for what they said. And no, the parallel to an anonymous letter to the editor is not applicable. This is a political party that is issuing official statements anonymously, specifically so they can attack people without recourse.
We heard so much at the forum about responsible journalism, the power they wield and the dangers of ruining reputations. In fact that was Wendell Hollis's whole angle attacking the Gazette and defending the PLP and Dr. Brown at the forum other night.
Wendell is completely silent on the absolutely libelous nonsense and character attacks that appear routinely on the PLP website, the party he currently is affiliated with and campaigned for.
I have been the target of these attacks on multiple occasions. Members of my family have been targeted by these anonymous character assassinations along the lines of last night's attack. Even worse in one instance.
Bermuda can do so much better than this.
