Carl Moore, Retired Journalist, Broadcaster & Former Chairman Of The Broadcasting Authority Calls Barbados Free Press & Barbados Underground ‘Cowards’

We have been bombarded with emails about an article which appeared in the Nation newspaper of 20 April 2008 under the by line Carl Moore – The More Things Change . Unlike Carl Moore we respect his right to foist his opinion on others. The right to free speech is something which our democracy has been built. The fact that some people have chosen the Internet to disseminate views which have been stifled in the traditional media appear to be lost on Carl Moore. This is a journalist who has used the traditional media to fight a perennial one man battle against noise pollution with a negliable result to date – spoken with the proverbial tongue in cheek like only Bush tea can. As an aside, Carl Moore maybe surprise to learn the identity of some of our commenters which include politicians, priests, civil servants current and retired, and believe or not, journalists!

Let us clear-up a misunderstanding which Mr. Moore seems to be labouring under. His willingness to criticize the blogs, we assume he means Barbados Free Press (BFP) and Barbados Underground (BU) when he really means some commenters suggests that he has some misunderstandings about what is a blog. A blog is Barbados Underground which is owned by blogger David and the BU household, the main objective of the blog is to promote the opinions of the blogger. The blog offers the opportunity for commenters to interact with the blogger by sharing opinions which hopefully benefit all the participants. More importantly blogs have the functionality which allow other blogs from all over the world including Barbados to ping(link) stories. The interaction leads to a blogosphere which is enhanced by the knowledge which is shared.

Like anything which involves human beings there is good and bad. Carl More seems to have a beef with the quality of journalism and the pseudonyms which BFP and BU and commenters have had to resort to in order to achieve the objective of sharing important information. Unlike Mr.Moore who seems to be a retired person they are others who because they fear victimization have used the Internet and blogs to share information. We are the first to admit that some have misused the blogs and where possible we have tried to filter those commenters while recognizing the individuals right to freedom of expression. During the last general election when the traditional media was restricted by a government that was known to be very hostile towards the media, subsequent events demonstrated that the media cowered in the face of the intimidation. The blogs were used to break stories which the traditional media refused. We have discussed issues regarding the cost of living, the crying need to identify alternative sources of energy, issues associated with a growing ethic and illegal population, increasing barriers to intra-regional travel, the role of the Church, a sensible land use policy, regionalism and the list goes on and on.

Let us debunk the inexactitude perpetrated by Carl Moore about the Bajan blogosphere. The Barbados Underground have never promoted ourselves as journalists. We have associated with the idea that the free-wheeling nature of the Internet allows the blogs to complement traditional media by protecting freedom of information. In the face of admissions by David Ellis and other journalists that they have been challenged at times to do their jobs, developing other avenues to protect the people’s right to freedom of speech, which is an important tenet in any democracy become paramount. The willingness of Carl Moore to remain committed to his single line notebook and pencil in an age of the computer and the Internet we accept as part of the challenge as Barbados and the world transition from old to new. There is a role for Carl Moore to play to ensure that key ingredients of the old media culture is transferred to the new. Whether he agrees or not it will call for an acceptance of blogs. We agree that some of our credibility is compromised because of our current anonymous configuration, but Mr. Moore should regard this as part of the process which will lead to an inevitable result of improving the unfettered distribution of ideas and information.

Barbados is a small community and the wholesale adoption of how blogs have been accepted in other parts of the world must be seen against this background.

Let us provide an example:

Both the Nation and Advocate newspapers have not incorporated blogs into their online format. If blogs were allowed, the journalists would be able to interact with the readers and get immediate feedback. A scan of the Trinidad and Jamaica newspapers this morning confirmed that this practice is in place. The same can be said about the online radio stations in Barbados which have struggled to maintain blogs or other fora to interact with their readership. Carl Moore who appears to have no respect for citizen journalists or what some refer to as the social media should explain why traditional media has been unable to integrate new distribution channels i.e. blogs.

We have deliberately not mentioned the phenomenon of Face book, My Space and other social networks which politicians in the USA have been using with mind blowing results. The point we are making Mr. Moore, you need to remove yourself from the archaic practices of the past. While your stubbornness in your current approach may still allow you to have your message resonate with the dinosaur era (no disrespect intended), there is a new generation who cares not for your nostalgic beliefs. It might explain the rapid growth of visitors of the BFP and BU (we continue to be surprise at the number of our unique and repeat visitors).

Mr. Moore we hope that you can come to the blogoshere and engage us on this important issue. If you retain your thin-skinned approach then we advise that you stay in the comfortable environs of Fontebelle. In deference to your cause we have placed a button on our sidebar to highlight the scourge of noise abuse.

By the way we love bananas!