Asking For Quality In Journalism

The following letter, which I wrote, was published in today's Nation (see http://www.nationnews.com/story/Letter-Dennis-Jones-copy-for-web). It was prompted by the commentary offered on March 17 by Robert Best in his "Best On Tuesday" column in the context of the recent attack on Canadian tourists at Long Beach (see http://www.nationnews.com/Robert-Best-Tues-3-17-9-copy-for-web).

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No excuse for errors

Published in the Nation on: 3/27/2009.

WHETHER AN ARTICLE is written by a former editor or not, it should not pass with blatant inaccuracies.

Robert Best's piece on The Bajan Experience states: "In Jamaica, for example, the crime rate is high, but it is only when visitors are the victims that greater concern than usual is expressed."

This is just bunkum, as a simple, cursory read of both major Jamaican papers online would show, as would a few minutes watching the evening news or listening to radio broadcasts from Jamaica.

In any event, if it were meant as a criticism, one could just substitute "Barbados" for Jamaica, with a flurry of activity to deal with problems at Long Beach after a savage attack on a Canadian visitor, when the crime problems there have been known for decades (not my observation, but that of people who have lived here for many years).

It does not further a cause to misrepresent its counterpart.


- DENNIS JONES,

Economist