THE ETHICS OF THE BAHAMIAN PRESS

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Bahamas has had to send private messages to friendly governments in the hemisphere and the Caricom region, including Haiti itself as result of an inaccurate report written by Lynaire Munnings of The Tribune on 13 November 2024.  The story reported that the Foreign Minister of The Bahamas said that Bahamin troops in Haiti as part of the MSS United Nations backed force can opt out any anytime they felt unsafe.  The Minister’s comments were only about the Diplomatic Staff of the Bahamas Embassy in Haiti which is his responsibility and in which there are defence force officers who are stationed, in addition to regular public servants.  There has been a voluntary withdrawal order in place since near the start of the year for those staff.  He did not speak to the issue of the MSS which is under the command of the Defence Force.  The Bahamas government sent notes to Haiti to clarify the misreporting. The Haiti blogs had spread the news that the withdrawal was a response to the change in Prime Ministers and was a sign of the lack of confidence in the new government.   The Jamaican press picked it up and the inaccuracy has been pointed out to them. Even after the inaccuracy was pointed out to the newspaper, they did not correct their report.