What do YOU call it when the largest print newspaper in the country arranges its headline story and an election advertising sticker to match – so as to support a government lie?
Not fit to read, and too hard to use as toilet paper. What should Bajans do with The Nation News?
Please head over to Barbados Underground where the discussion on this latest lie from the government and its newspaper is hot and heavy. Thanks to David at Barbados Underground for breaking this story and running with it.
Barbados Underground: The Games That Newspapers Play
19 Comments
January 8, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Sometime ago I posted a comment alluding to the BLP’s desire to hold on to the reins of office. Included in the comments were “you ain’t seen nothing yet”. Now its “By any means necessary”, look for more threats, intimidation, sabotage,slander and manufactured “dirt”(the “big lie”). They expect the voters to ignore the corruption and arrogance of the last few years, where our input is ignored and consultation does not exist, where everything they undertake is right and who are you to question us.
Like a drowning man clutching at straws they are trying to scare the electors into preserving their rule. Now they have co-opted the press into carrying out their dirty assigments, but I say it wont work, “how long is too long?”, again.
January 8, 2008 at 1:05 pm
I’ve always read and supported the right for Barbados Free Press and the great work you do, but a yellow post it note, presumably paid for as an advertsement, that most people just tear off and throw away before reading the newsppaer, is not really sufficient for your peice today. I support your freedom of speech and can see that the Nation is often ‘clouded’ in their views, but the front page you mention has equal billing and both sides as offered. Of course we’d all need to see the evidence the BLP has to be able to say which is true, but you stretched the truth a little far in this article to follow your support for the DLP. Freepress needs to remain fair. You won’t deter me from continuing to read your pages!
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BFP Responds
How can you say we “stretched the truth”? It is obvious that the yellow advertising sticker was co-ordinated with the main story of the paper. Any fool can see that.
Do you think that is ethical behaviour on the part of the Nation News?
Yes or No?
January 8, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Of course the yellow sticker was co-ordinated, but both (or should I say all) parties have the opportunity to spend on advertising. Ethical, no (unless they asked the DLP for an option of a similar vein), but perhaps good marketing. I expect the DLP wishes they’d thought of it. Both parties have wasted lots of funds with their advertising that leaves a lot to be desired.
January 8, 2008 at 4:19 pm
What is the Nation’s position on crime? In the midst of an election campaign billboards erected by the Opposition party are removed and they report it in the same manner as an accident e.g driver loses control of car and hits tree. This is vandalism and should be reported as same. Recently a minister in the current govt complained about vandalism at beach facilities don’t they see the connection? Where does it end?
According to reports the Nation has banned political columns for the duration of the campaign, fair enough, but what about the cheerleading reporting from Albert Brandford; the Hollywood style of reporting from “movie reviewer” Tony Best ( btw should his columns come with a disclaimer- “in view of my relationship with the grande dame of the BLP all comments should be taken with a grain of salt”); the rambling comments of Ikael Itari. We still expect impartiality from the Nation sadly it seems to be missing.
January 8, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Clearly the press have been quite subtle in their biased coverage. On the front page mentioned above, on the left is one man in a suit. While on the left another man in
shirt jack. Both are file photos. The press can help to break you and they have been at the last few weeks in earnest. As though that is not good enough, check the placement of the yellow sticky on last Saturday Sun. It was right over a Mr. Sinckler’s face as another man, Mr. Mascoll smiled from another branch on the same tree. Those yellow stickers are not placed by hand on to the papers. No, that could cause human bias. The stickers are placed by machine and it can therefore be beautifully programmed for strategic consistency. In God we trust.
January 8, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Foodeater
The gimmick is effective BECAUSE it is subtle and will have gone unnoticed by most. It is unethical because some person or persons at the Nation would have had to collude with the BLP’s PR people to effect the nexus – ie BLP is effectively having editorial input in a paper that is purporting to remain neutral throughout the campaign. The front page does not fall far short from an endorsement by the Nation of the BLP and comes on the heels of some unbalanced reporting (at least relative to the Advocate – irony of ironies).
We will soon be hearing the Nation, like CBC and Fox News, telling us that they are fair and balanced – a sure indicator of bias and hidden agendas.
Of all of the disturbing and saddening developments leading up to this election, the won that grieves me most is the accelerated decline of a newspaper that once soared high in my esteem as a beacon of democracy and social advancement of our people.
January 8, 2008 at 6:21 pm
I was presumptuous enough, a week or so ago, to say that the BLP and its cohorts, will launch a last desperate “salvo” to garner support. Is it Taiwan?
It does not matter, a firm and honest unequivocal rebuttal to the charge of Taiwanese funding, by David Thompson, is enough to kick that accusation into the long grass. Do not linger on it for too long, do not even attempt to discuss the minutiae of it, as any such attempt plays into the BLP’s agenda of changing the focus of the electorate, at the last minute.
Did you notice the “subliminal message” of the yes beside Arthur, and the BLP and the no for David Thompson and the DLP. This plan, to manipulate public opinion, will not work, because of the “evidence” of what they the -BLP – should have done in Government, and have not done. It is clear for the electorate to see.
The BLP’s inactivity on main issues, their silence when important concerns are expressed by the public – Chinese workers. Their incompetence in managing public expenditure, and the belief that in a country with two political parties, capable of forming a Government they – the BLP – have a right to govern in perpetuity, this broaches on dictatorship, with a fig leaf of elections for validity.
The electorate, have played their cards close to their chests, the Barbadian way, and will unleash a surprise, not hitherto seen in Barbados politics.
It will be a salutary reminder, that however great you think you are, in a democracy, it is the “citizens”, who have the last word.
January 8, 2008 at 7:34 pm
My advice to all those persons that maybe considering goint to hear the blp tonight is that in the best advice that I can offer is to be very careful as we have seen an increase in the desperation of these blp clan with the threats on the life of people like the goodly gentlemen DR DON MARSHALL.
Still away and stay safe from threats to your life!!!
January 8, 2008 at 7:48 pm
OWEN ARTHUR IN HOT WATER
BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS (JANUARY 8, 2008) — Owen Arthur has landed himself in hot water for peddling an outrageous piece of nonsense that the DLP was discussing campaign financing with the Government of Taiwan.
Prominent business executive Leroy Parris, who Arthur claimed was talking to the Taiwanese on behalf of the DLP, says he is seeking legal advice with a view to suing Arthur.
“The statements by the Prime Minister, made on Saturday night, are untruthful, outrageous and totally without foundation,” Parris says in a full-page newspaper statement today.
In the face of surging public support for the DLP ahead of next Tuesday’s general election, a panicking Owen Arthur has been showing increasing signs of desperation.
Instead of debating the issues relevant to the daily challenges facing Barbadians, the outgoing Prime Minister seems more focused on engaging in vicious personal attacks, especially against persons in the DLP.
Speaking at a Barbados Labour Party public meeting, Arthur claimed Parris made a trip to St Kitts over the past weekend to meet with Taiwanese ambassador in Basseterre.
Untrue, Parris says. The purpose of the trip was to attend a New Year’s Gala hosted by Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas, the chairman of CLICO Holdings (Barbados) Ltd explains.
“I conducted no business while there and I met with no diplomatic or other such public official,” Parris explains. In fact, Parris says he has never met with the Taiwanese ambassador.
January 8, 2008 at 7:49 pm
‘PANIC IN BLP CAMP’
BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS (JANUARY 8, 2008) — Prominent Caribbean journalist, Rickey Singh, says the manner in which Owen Arthur has made the claim of Taiwanese financing of the DLP election campaign, suggests “an element of panic” in the ruling BLP camp.
In an interview on the BBC Caribbean Service, the veteran regional political commentator says he finds the claim “very surprising” and can only conclude it represents “an attempt to divert the DLP from its consistent focus on time for change” in the campaign for the January 15 general election.
“If the support I am witnessing for the opposition which is in contrast to the last election in May 2003 is any guide to go by, I can say there are good grounds for the optimism for change that is so very evident within the ranks of the Opposition,” Singh says.
Arthur made the outrageous claim at a public meeting in Bridgetown last Saturday night where the BLP had a second launch of its election candidates, three days after the first.
The baffling move suggests the first launch on Wednesday night did not have the impact they were hoping for in terms of generating campaign momentum.
January 8, 2008 at 8:36 pm
I am now hearing the the son of a maid that I know who happens to live in mottley’s area was moments ago handed and envelope which contained $ 200.00 to buy his vote for election, much to her regret the family that she attempted to buy is a loyal and faithful DLP supporter and the young man has taken the money and has vowed not to let the money steal his freedom and his rights.
No wonder the blp feel that they can treat the citizens with distain and abuse them as they do, because according to the Brand Name specialist Noeless Blarney Lynch when he states that 10 % of the electorate votes are buyable, and we have HALLAM NICHOLLS who has stolen with the help of Arthur when he can state that he stopped counting his personal wealth at US $ 25 MILLION but he has vowed to buy the blp an election win, and to this extent he is willing to spend $ 2 million to remove two DLP candidates, take the money my friends and tell him thanks for giving back to you what HE HAS STOLEN FROM YOU FOR THE PAST 15 YEARS, he has stolen many millions of your tax payers funds get it back in any form and any fashion that you can it back in.
January 8, 2008 at 10:41 pm
They can both offer me $200 to vote for them next week. I’ll accept both, but I still haven’t made up my mind which is the best way forward. Both appear to have amazing faults.
January 9, 2008 at 12:21 am
DLP
get your internet savy young people to report to the blogs on election day with any irregularities.
This includes photos, names, addresses, times, people in charge, witnesses and people abusing the system.
Do it immediately once it is double checked by your head of the district. Don’t even bother to filter it through, police, newspapers or headquarters. Start the process immediately.
The BLP will not want to lose at any cost even though the shredding and moving of files has started long ago.
January 9, 2008 at 1:56 pm
The comment is a bit heavy handed about the nation. There are all kind of instances that you could criticise the nation on particularly its snubbing of the working class. A fact when i worked at the Advocate and wrote a column for the Investigator and worked out a working class orientation to the paper in contradiction to the nation. The Investigator achieved a lot, i dont know if it is still around BUT here’s the point even in England the Mail votes labour, the Telegraph conservative, the Guardian fabian (all the fabian think tanks love the guardian, so they dont get their vote but their line of sourses) and the Times, well now it is owned by Murdoch who owns the Sun, a trashy popular tabloid renown for stirring up racial tension and mud-slinging among the working class, and decides the government with his swing support.
So dont panic. Barbados is going the way of the world. Attack the Nation the next time in humiliates, or fails to represent because of its very elite handling of itself, the poor man or woman on the street. Thats what they are mostly guilty of not standing up and being better journalists.
Even Harold Hoyte in all his conservative ways told my mother he would have liked to have written the page anter page of hard hitting investigative political reporting of band in the Band.
If this site is to get better you got to set higher standards.
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BFP replies
Gee Gary…
You don’t seem very satisfied at all with Barbados Free Press. Why don’t you head over to wordpress.com and start your own blog?
I’m sure that in a few weeks you can get up to BFP’s level of 1.5 million visitors per year and be in the Top 100 most popular WordPress blogs in the world like BFP. Shouldn’t take you any longer than a few weeks, don’t you think?
See you later.
January 10, 2008 at 10:52 am
With respect t0 the claim by PM Arthur that the DLP are involved with the Taiwanese, he stated in the Barbados Advocate of January 9th “—–Prime Minister Arthur revealed that some 20 Taiwanese were granted visas and came to Barbados on December 9th—-”
The title of the article is “Connecting the dots” but if you analyse the above claim, the dots are pointing right back at the BLP because whose government issued the visas? Surely not David Thompson’s DLP?
And if PM Arthur is so bitterly opposed to any connections with Taiwan, why did his government issued those 20 visas in the first place knowing full well the modus operandi of the Taiwanese?
I am afraid he has implicated himself here.
January 10, 2008 at 12:26 pm
EUREKA…..you last posting is a very EURIDITE point !
The NAKED…..TRUTH !
January 11, 2008 at 5:28 pm
How come the Nation did not give the same prominence to Thompson’s accusations of corruption by the BLP gov’t as they did to Arthur’s statement re Taiwan? I would venture a guess that local political corruption is more important to bajans than the Taiwan issue yet the Nation had a banner headline with “Taiwan Deal” and Arthur’s accusation is relegated to a small article. Thompson named names and he produced evidence, where is Arthur’s evidence? If the accusations are untrue re the cheque disbursement the recipients named can file lawsuits to protect their “good name”. I will go out on a limb and say they won’t be any legal action
January 11, 2008 at 6:28 pm
The above should read “Thompson’s accusation”
March 11, 2009 at 10:39 am
This article was linked by the automatic feature. It made me remember how unethical the Nation News is (if I needed any remembering).