“I hope the professional journalists of the Nation each do a couple of months in jail minimum.”
Police arrest publisher, editor and senior journalist – free on bail
Child porn is child porn, and the photo published on October 26, 2013 on the back page of the Saturday Sun of two children having sex in a classroom is child porn by any definition. The Nation staff knew that. Anybody would know that – but there was money to be made.
“gaffe /gaf/ an unintentional act or remark causing embarrassment to its originator; a blunder. “in my first few months at work I made some real gaffes” Synonyms: blunder, mistake, error, slip”
The Gleaner (Jamaica) called it ‘Barbadian Press Blunder‘, while Barbados Underground used the word ‘gaffe’ to describe the publishing of the child porn photo.
Make no mistake: what the Nation did was no ‘blunder’ or ‘gaffe’ – it was intentional. Publisher Vivian-Anne Gittens, Editor-in-Chief Roy Morris and journalist Sanka Price decided to sell lots of copies of the Saturday edition and they knew exactly how to do that. They made a decision. These ‘professional journalists’ went for the cash and now cloak themselves in the flag of freedom of the press.
The Gleaner editorial expressed ‘surprise’ that Bajan prosecutors would expend the energy to lay charges, saying “This newspaper endorses such (child pornography) laws. We, however, have serious reservation about the application of the law in relation to The Nation newspaper and its staff.”
Why the reservation? Would the Gleaner have had reservations is this blog had been charged after publishing the same photo or the video that was viral? When pigs fly!
Two days ago Barbados Today told of the arrest of 341 people in an international child porn case. Barbados Today did not publish any child porn photos to accompany the news article. According to the standards of The Nation, Barbados Today could have published examples of the child porn to go along with the story.
I hope the professional journalists of the Nation each do a couple of months in jail minimum.
They should, because what they did was not about the story: it was about taking a chance and making some money. Copies of the Sun’s back cover have likely spread to child sex perverts far and wide by now.
The law in Barbados and elsewhere is clear on the publication of photos of children engaged in sex acts: it is forbidden upon severe penalties. There is only one law in Barbados, or perhaps there are two laws? If the Nation accused are found not guilty or given a kiss of a sentence, that will mean that every newspaper and independent citizen journalist is free to do the same. Is that what we as a society want? Is that a true interpretation of our laws? Cha!
Here at Barbados Free Press we supported Bajan journalists when our thug police force arrested journalists for reporting on crooked cops, roughed up reporters at the hospital and deleted photos of an accident scene. We stand tall for freedom of the press.
But there must be limits on people’s behaviour and we call these limits ‘laws’. If there are no limits on ‘professional journalists’ to publish child porn as The Nation has said by its actions, then our courts will tell us so. And woe to Barbados.
Barbados Free Press 
Perhaps, in the name of balance, you should look at the “laws” you refer to.
counterfactual thinking. This is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. this website is no better than the Nation given what I have seen on it so shut your gob.
BFP Did they print more units that day in anticipation of the increase in sales you say they were after. If they did not, then that statement makes no sense.
You know this story is a twist of two tails. It is obvious that a professional decision base on risk taking was made by the nation top brass for a specific reason. I believe that arrogance rose its head in this matter against better judgement.
The entire saga is one that proves that there is a level of perversion and immoral sway towards wrong doing that is being accepted as a proverbial norm, probably on the basis of who is doing it. Such, in my opinion, depicted the nations fool hearty move to publish the frozen sex scene against what they obviously new to be wrong and the lost of common decency depicted by two young adolescent misguided kids who felt a sense of grandeur in their open show of sexual activity. Respect and sanctity for the act of sex is now seen as an action that no longer deserves privacy but publicity. As a result we have a young generation that sees immoral as moral and unethical as ethical. And do not get me wrong some of the adults see it the same way too.
How therefore can you fix a societal problem that is blanketed by the day to day denial of defiant and deviant behaviour. How can you fix the problem of corruption that is seen by the many who do not view draw backs and back hand deals as a crime. It is amazing in our society what we are willing to expose and what we intend to conceal. That to me is the epitome of hypocrisy in the democracy.
Young people having sex is not the issue, it has gone on for generations – the issue here is the exploitation of those young people engaging in a sex act by the media – therefore if, by publishing, they have broken the laws of the country then they must suffer the consequences whether it was sales driven or not. Nobody is, or should be, above the law in Barbados.
The Police have Bigger Problems than the Nation Paper , Police need to go after the Prime Minister and his Minister for doing much worse than the Nations paper, I sure we see much more live in the streets . Police Looking to look like they are working? See where the law is on this and lets hope its not a hunt .
Two stupid questions –
1. Did the Nation publish the photo on its electronic version?
If not, it may have been because it recognized it was publishing child porn and would be entering the jurisdictions of countries that don’t mess about where that is concerned.
If it did …. then it did not consider it child porn.
2. Do the paper editions of the Nation get sent into other jurisdictions by the Nation?
If they do and there was any deviation in its normal modus operandi where this edition was concerned, then they knew they were doing wrong.
If not, then they don’t consider it child porn.
If they avoided sending the offending photo to other jurisdictions which do not mess about then it says a lot about what how it perceives the jurisdiction of Barbados ……. anything goes.
It would be interesting to know how the Nation dealt with the publication because it might turn out that it isn’t the Barbadian law courts its officials have to face.
They may be faced with Interpol, not just the RBPF!!
What happened with the child who published the movie on the Internet?
Whatever happened to him should happen to these three at a minimum….. and if they happened to avoid the internet because as adults they knew different, then I think they should fry.
It would not be right for the Court to threaten a 16 year old with Dodds for publishing the movie because he should know better but do nothing to three big able adults who chose to publish part of the movie.
Isn’t the 16 year old on curfew?
Maybe when the three appear in March next year it will be on the 15th!!
On curfew…I understand so; and that he has been told that if he answers back (to his parents) his bail will be broken – so off to Dodds. Now how bloody silly is that?
It didn’t take long for morris to screw up at the nation again…tsk tsk tsk
Child porn? Is this not just underage sex?
You know in Barbados people especially the political dictators and some of their yard fowls like to bury their head in the sand. It is okay for some to have porn videos for sale & viewing on the internet, but when it comes to showing up the system, and to express ones views it’s a problem. I don’t know much of Jamaica, or their system of governance, just what I read in the paper, or hear on the news, but I am so happy about them picking up the ignorance of our judicial system & the police, is this why they got rid of the Police Commissioner? only asking !!
Morris @ we at PLANTATION DEEDS , THINK THIS IS THE TIME TO LET IT OUT, IF YOU DO THEY MAY NOW SEE JAIL IF ANY OR FINES BEFORE YOU AND OTHERS AT THE NATION, THIS IS YOUR WINDOW , WE DID NOT SEE NOTHING SO WE WILL NOT JUDGE,
THEY COME AT YOU , THEN GO AT THEM NOW. LET THE TRUTH COME OUT ,
The Violet Beckles land fraud lets see who , is who now, dont let the police or anyone stop you all, The crimes of the state is on all children and people of the Nation and the DPP for picking who , what and when they want to act like they are working and the AG lets not for get them all with voter fraud,and the PM also
you all know the rest of them is you need we will send you the links and the docs,
Vulgar, vulgar, vulgar, so opined the Queen’s ex private secretary Lord Charteris with reference to the Dutchess of York Sarah Ferguson the not very bright and wholly indiscreet ex wife wife of Prince Andrew the Duke of York
This characterisation by Lord Charteris sadly can be said of the Trinidad owned Nation/Sunday Sun regarding their publication of the salacious and unnecessary photograph which purports to show two fourteen year old students having sex in a school classroom.
There are of course two fundamental issues here that present to Bajan society and to all of us who are increasingly concerned with Bajan ethics/morality and their imperceptible and at times blatant erosion in our island state; and of course the freedom of the press.
Forty seven years post independence, we carry still enshrined in our supposedly shiny new constitution many of the old colonial laws faithfully reproduced practically word for word. Our press remain subjected to restrictive structures that even the old colonial power the UK have discarded into the dust bin of history.
Of course one is not making any comparison with the repressive states that abound globally where freedom of expression can be a threat to one’s liberty and person. That would be rather silly, facile and dishonest in the extreme.
And it is here that I part company with The Jamaica Gleaner, one would like to believe that with freedom of belief and of the press comes some sense of responsibility.
Vivian Anne Gittens, Sanka Price and Roy Morris deliberately chose to ignore this dictum and the surmise can only be that of the chasing of readership, the making of profit for their shareholders at the expense of decency, responsibility, good judgement and a respect for their craft and the Bajan populace.
I do agree very much agree with you BFP, this cringe worthy vulgarity that these three persons chose to present to the public cannot be termed in no sense of the descriptions blunders or gaffes.
It was about three people of influence in Barbados adrift from any moral, ethical, and journalistic standards with a deep contempt for the paper’s readership and a lack of respect for themselves.
Recently in a Rihanna video which was made when she was in Barbados for Cropover 2013 one could hear some of her posse /hangers on calling each other bitches.
Maybe Vivian Anne Gittens, Sanka Price and Roy Morris use such language to address each other in Fontabelle………………….it would certainly explain a kind of mindset, and why they felt they could foist vulgar teenage porn images upon the Bajan public.
MANJACK of MY LORDS HILL, are you one of the government lackey, one do not shoot the messenger, and I still have the photograph in my possession I do not see any faces, I do not see any body parts exposed, if you want to hide behind tainted glasses do so, it is your liberty, but don’t try to stop the news from showing Barbadians what is going on in the schools, which the M of E, is being so backward in doing anything about . This has been going on for years, what measures were put into the schools to stop this behaviour? Ask some of your ministers what they have been doing to school children for years? It is only now that the sh– has hit the fan that holy than thou people like you talking a whole lot of cr–Thank you NATION for bringing this to the attention of Barbadians, & may you bring the news as you see it, this is suppose to be a democratic society.
Underage sex is wrong.
Underage sex on school premises is wrong.
Reporting about this is right.
Publishing photos of the act is porn.
End of!
@just want to know. No press freedoms have been compromised in this case. Gittens, Price and Morris were not charged for publishing the story – they were charged for reproducing a still scene from a video of two minors having sex. It is noteworthy that nowhere in the charge is the word porn mentioned – it just makes reference to an indecent photograph involving minors.
By its own admission in the article and caption the Nation confirms that the photo is a still scene from the video so that is not in dispute.
The police have built this case wisely because they have first charged the creators of the video (the two teenagers) and then charged the re-distributors of the video. Whether or not the faces are visible is irrelevant. The subject matter in the photo has not been denied by the Nation.
Wrong is wrong. We often complain about laws not being enforced in Barbados – there is no smoking gun or conspiracy theory here.
If there was nothing to charge them with they would not be charged and the learned queen’s counsel representing them would have been able to snuff out the charge before it could see the light of day. Even he knows that the case has merit.
I am happy to see that for once in this country the system has worked.
All this public show of “force” against the Nation and its senior staff and for what?
By March when this case is called, it will be well outside of the minds of the average Barbadian who will be more interested in where his/her next paycheck is coming from and how to pay off Courts/ Standard/ Cave Shepherd and others for the items they took on credit over the holiday season.
Sex in schools was happening from the time schools were around. At all levels. Primary upward. What it didn’t enjoy was wide-scale publication and viewership on the mobile platforms now available. We are too self-righteous and deceitful as a society. If we want to charge the Nations top execs under some obscure law, then I ask, when are WE going to agitate to have the activities of those individuals who frequent Coleridge Street at night brought into the light and prosecuted in much the same way? Or is it the we really detest and abhor heterosexual behaviour? The problem that is now surfacing which we are so deceitful about dealing with started in the home, or homes of those who didn’t want to train their children. Those who thought that to speak firmly and use the rod was too barbaric. Those who opened their private lives to public view for the very children to see. Those who made a stink about cellphones in schools using the earthquake as an excuse why their children should have a cellphone on their person at all times. Those who didn’t take RESPONSIBILITY!
Wes the reporting of the event accompanied by the pictorial display irresponsible of the Nation? I don’t know. It may have been poor taste, but is it any more poor in its taste value than hearing a bunch of school hooligans carry on in the most degrading way on Broad Street on the last day of the school term? We always want a scapegoat to make ourselves feel good about our inaction and lack of backbone. You really want to make a difference in the next decade? Stare by training your children and demonstrating some real mental fortitude. I dare all of you!!!!
I thank you snake venom. Too many bajans are so hypocritical, and have such short memories. In a couple months this will all be forgotten,just as CLICO, just as the sending home of A Commissioner of Police, just as a parent could kill his son, & because his father is rich, spend not one day in jail, & ferried him out of the island saying no Doctor could treat his son in Barbados, what a bunch of ( can’t even find the right word for them ), now trying to stifle the press. God help us one & all.
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