But our internet site will have to do still more to be competitive. For some, it may have to become the place for conversation. The digital native doesn’t send a letter to the editor anymore. She goes online, and starts a blog. We need to be the destination for those bloggers. We need to encourage readers to think of the web as the place to go to engage our reporters and editors in more extended discussions about the way a particular story was reported or researched or presented.

Source: Rupert Murdock (Media Magnate)

Yesterday Barbados Free Press published an article which exhibited a natural curiosity regarding the principals behind BU. Our comment is simply to agree with the consensus of feedback to that article which was, Barbadians given the tasks at hand should remain focused on the gold, a comment made famous by our Prime Minister. Whether BU is being published by a professional journalist, accountant, priest or student should be immaterial.

After reading the topic we were inspired to again examine the influence blogs like BFP and BU can have on the flow of information in the Barbados society. What is apparent is that the news channels remain the trusted option, for now. The glaring conundrum however is whereas the traditional media is firmly clenched by the “balls” by the money “grubbing” politicians, the blogs have more latitude to ensure that the wheels of freedom remain oiled. If the objectives of both information channels is to inform then it appears to us that it would be productive if the traditional media would “throw the blogs a bone” from time to time. The benefit of this act would be to ensure that the freedom of expression which we hold so dear in Barbados is protected. The traditional media management remain unprepared to cite the blogs as a source for the many articles and editorials which they publish, this clearly demonstrates that there is value in the Barbados blogs. We challenge the army of reporters who witness many of their stories which are left in the editorial “stuff bim” to give the blogs the opportunity to breath life into those stories by submitting them to us. This approach should not be seen to be a competitive situation. The unfettered reporting of news in Barbados must benefit the media market as a whole because it would improve the appetite of a public to yearn for news and promote more respect for the profession. If you need encouragement remember that Woodward and Bernstein of Watergate fame relied on “leaks” to achieve the greatest exposé of all time for the media in the USA. BU senses that Barbadians want change but they are not prepared to contribute to the effort. A comment or an email is all that is required to start the ball rolling sometimes.

On behalf of many Barbadians who would have grown-up on a diet of good newspaper reading offered by the Advocate, BU offers no apology for bashing this once highly respected paper. It appears that the owner is hell bent on driving away readers and the paper is now relegated to a distant second in circulation. The eccentric owner appears to be more happy to entice young female reporters to his lair who are fresh out of university with bills to pay than to offer alternative views and competition to the Nation newspaper. BU understands that there is a room at the Fontebelle compound which contains tailored outfits for females and many perfumes too! The young female reporters are “dolled-up” by the owner to look a professional and fighting unit. BU refuse to believe our source which speaks to the owner eating breakfast and lunch with his female staff “dolled-up” in company outfits. In recent times our information is that long serving male reporters have had to endure lay-offs. What a mess.

It is with further regret that BU now bashes the media practitioners aka The Barbados Association of Journalists, stylishly referred to by themselves as the BAJ. Despite our best efforts we have been unable to Google to a website which the BAJ uses to further the cause of their profession. At a time when Barbados is witnessing an unprecedented assault on press freedom all we observe is a group which is cowering like a mangy dog. We do not blame the young reporters who because of the wetness behind the ears are easily manipulated by the system. We blame the directorate in the media who pander to the political interest groups and measure success by the size of the “pay check” at month-end. It is the Vic Fernandes, David Ellis, Roy Morris, Albert Brandford, and a few others who appear to work for a salary first. Perhaps we should remove Vic and place him in a different category. He has done well for himself financially at Starcom. His commission structured salary has seen him positioned as one of Barbados highest earning executives. We say to this group of media practitioners who between them still have the respect of a Barbados public to try sometimes to break from the staus quo because like Holder, Wickham, Cozier, Jackman and others, your legacy is being recorded.

So all you reporters out there who patrol the Internet to impregnate your minds with the ideas of the Barbados blogs, toss us a bone!