EDITORIAL

We are back... even better

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Today’s edition of Cayman Net News marks the newspaper’s return to daily publishing, after a six-month hiatus following Hurricane Ivan.

Indeed, our gradual return to our pre-Ivan publication schedule has in many ways mirrored our growth from the very first days as an online news source.

In fact, during the passage of the storm itself and in the hours that immediately followed, our website was the only source of news in the world relating to conditions in the Cayman Islands.

This is reflected in over half a million visitors to our website in a single 24 hour period on Monday, September 13, 2005.

Against all the odds, we were also the first newspaper (or any other publication come to that) in print following the storm, when the special Hurricane Ivan edition of Cayman Net News arrived on Grand Cayman late on Friday, September 17, 2005. The monumental effort made by all concerned in producing that issue would be a lengthy story in itself.

Since then, we have progressed through printing twice-weekly and then three times per week with the addition of the popular Business Monday edition, to today’s return to a full publication schedule.

Post- as well as pre-Ivan we have faced the distraction of frivolous and ill-conceived lawsuits and the threat of economic sanctions because we dare to print the truth that some individuals find unpalatable. All this in addition to trying to run a busy news organisation.

But we have held fast to our chosen course of bringing reliable, responsible news and the unvarnished truth to the people of the Cayman Islands.

What confirms and validates us in this are the daily remarks of encouragement we receive from people of all walks of life. The extent and passion of these endorsements do not fully come across in the pages of the newspaper although, gratifyingly, we have noticed a definite shift even in the last few weeks in the willingness to express an opinion in a public forum.

We hope that, finally, all the people of Cayman are now prepared to speak out in greater numbers and make their voices and sentiments known. Every day we see letters and forum contributions expressing opinions to an extent that we would scarcely have believed possible just one year ago.

As we move on from this milestone, we have our sights set on delivering the same news and information without fear or favour to the Cayman Islands and the world though the latest capabilities of modern technology, including Internet-based radio and television.

And although some may think we are gluttons for punishment, we will shortly be launching the first print edition of Caribbean Net News, for distribution throughout the Caribbean and the major population centres of Caribbean origin in London, Toronto, New York and Florida.

Others have tried to copy our successful format locally but in a regional context we are following where previous attempts at pan-Caribbean media have largely failed.

It may well be that we will face resistance to the truth magnified some thirty times or more by the number of individual countries, territories and islands, but we feel that the time is right for a renewed effort in this direction. 

We are confident that, with the loyal support of our readers and advertisers in the Cayman Islands and throughout the region, we will in due time become the voice of the Caribbean and not just the voice of the Cayman Islands, or as one of our correspondents so eloquently puts it: “the People’s News”.

It’s about time.

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