Engaging The Bloggers

While responding to criticism about his recent comments on the need for Bermuda’s “have-nots” to have more, which the Mid Ocean News on Friday interpreted as a plan for “a dose of redistributive taxation”, Premier Alex Scott denied that he made any mention of income tax in his speech, which he said had been sent to all of Bermuda’s media verbatim.

Unfortunately, this is a lie. I didn’t get a copy of Mr. Scott’s speech and neither did fellow blogger Christian Dunleavy.

Now perhaps I’m having delusions of grandeur about being part of Bermuda’s media. But by failing to engage Bermuda’s bloggers, the Government is missing a great opportunity to get its story out. While we may not (yet) have the reach of the Royal Gazette, bloggers can provide an excellent check on the traditional media - if we also have access to the raw information. This was recently demonstrated in the United States, where political bloggers revealed that documents presented by CBS questioning George Bush’s National Guard service during the Vietnam war were actually fake.

I have previously offered to put forward the PLP's point of view on an issue if it feels it is not getting a fair hearing in the traditional media; that offer stands. After reading about the launch of a PR campaign to highlight the Government’s achievements in Friday’s Bermuda Sun, I wrote to the Premier inviting him to send me a list of those achievements, which I would publish here. I have not yet received a response.

Perhaps the PLP’s reluctance to engage Bermuda’s new media is unsurprising for an organisation which doesn't include a single email address on its website and still isn't publishing Government press releases on its shiny new portal. But it has little to lose and much to gain if it does.

Comments

[Bob Stammers on 27.09.04 at 18:46]

The only way to handle such "snubs" is to ignore them and act as though they had included you.

In Kingsley the blog is often dismissed as "an unofficial website", basically beneath the commenters contempt, but everyone reads it nevertheless.

Keep on blogging and treat them as difficult children with as much patience as you can muster - you'll win in the end.

[Tiger Bay on 27.09.04 at 19:07]

Government doesn't seem to have the training wheels off the portal yet. The only live content seems to be weather (not from the Bermuda Weather Service) and a skanky free news feed.

The Cabinet Office has a communications department that employs 14 people - let's hope they start to use the portal to inform us what's going on!

[Xando on 27.09.04 at 20:09]

Acheivements -- let's make our own scorecard of progress to the PLP's platform as laid out on their web site:

Equal Opportunity for All;
Better Jobs for Bermudians;
Empowerment as a key development strategy;
An investor friendly policy environment;
Macroeconomics stability;
Fiscal discipline in all matters and new standards of Revenue Management;
Accountability and Transparency in all areas of governance;
Investment in people as well as in physical infrastructure;
Preservation of the family
Protection of the natural environment

I'm sorry but I'm already giggling.

[Graeme Outerbridge on 27.09.04 at 21:10]

Yep the PLP know that talk is a trip or two and far as keeping their promises stated in this lovely list on the PLP web site --I'm afraid the list will stay virtual as it is now...or you can visit them in Xando ^..^

[Tiger Bay on 28.09.04 at 10:44]

What goes on in Al Scott's mind:

Equal Opportunity for All (especially Alls who voted for me);
Better Jobs for Bermudians (except for Ewart who wants mine);
Empowerment as a key development strategy (is that a goal or a strategy? Sounds good though!);
An investor friendly policy environment (talking about tax always makes investors feel cosy);
Macroeconomics stability (huge debts, massive inflation. I don't know. Ask Paula, she understands this stuff);
Fiscal discipline in all matters and new standards of Revenue Management (Fricking Larry Dennis);
Accountability and Transparency in all areas of governance (Oh, I'm good I am);
Investment in people as well as in physical infrastructure (proactive empowerment!!);
Preservation of the family (See, we give all those Listers jobs!)
Protection of the natural environment (Nelethea, where are you?)