Media conference reminded of withdrawal of advertising by Cayman government

HAMILTON, Bermuda: Royal Gazette, May 7, 2008 – A conference of Caribbean media workers has been told of Government’s decision to ban advertising with The Royal Gazette – and how such action is typically a method of punishing the press. Wesley Gibbings, president of the Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM), told the event in Georgetown, Guyana, on May 1 of the Cabinet Office’s move to stop all advertising and subscriptions with this newspaper.

Mr Gibbings said the Cayman Islands withdrew state advertising from Cayman Net News in 2004 and was reminded by ACM of hemispheric commitments contained in the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.


Photographer met first shark in the Cayman Islands

PERTH, Australia: West Australian, May 7, 2008 – Movies like Jaws and Open Water portray sharks as vicious man-eaters and every year attacks on swimmers make for sensational headlines. But Canadian underwater photographer turned filmmaker Rob Stewart is trying to change the perception of sharks as killers with his award-winning documentary, Sharkwater.

The film challenges many of the myths and historical stereotypes about creatures which pre-date the dinosaurs. His first encounter with a shark was a life-changing one. “I met my first shark when I was nine in the Cayman Islands and it was afraid of me,” he says.


Cayman gay apology empty?

NEW YORK, USA: Queerty, May 7, 2008 – Have officials on the Cayman Islands truly learned their lesson? Department of Tourism director Pilar Bush recently apologized after coppers detained American Aaron Chandler for kissing his boy friend in public, a story Queerty broke last Friday.
Today, however, we hear that Tourism Minister Charles Clifford describes Chandler’s act as “offensive.” The Minister presided over a town hall meeting Monday night and told his constituents that while he and others found Chandler’s gay ways distasteful, he can’t do anything about it.