The Bermuda Sun decided a long time ago to post breaking stories on the web between publication dates - and others have followed suit. We were wary of hurting print sales but we've found that web and print readers are two slightly different entities, with some overlap. When stories break during the week, most people are at work so we dispatch e-mail alerts about stories we've posted. Bermudians no longer need to wait for the evening news or the morning paper - with some exceptions, if there's a big story out there, it'll be on our website. Habits are hard to break and Bermudians still enjoy leafing through a newspaper.

But for young people who have grown up with the web, immediacy and ease of access and interactivity seem to be paramount. Newspapers are not dead or dying yet - a recent survey showed circulation globally has risen 10 per cent over five years, though papers in the U.S. are in decline.

The new media players have added to an information glut in Bermuda and the challenge for islanders is to distinguish between fact, fiction and opinion. Blogs broaden debate but they don't always improve it - rabid opinion passed off as fact only confuses and alienates.

Thaao Dill at Hott makes a valuable contribution - he's good at cutting through the rhetoric in the news of the day and puts things in perspective, often with some humour. He's also added some much needed political balance to the scene.

New media has blurred the lines between commentary and fact and not everyone agrees that the distinction is important. I strongly believe that when it comes to 'news', accuracy, fairness and balance - three of the essential tenets of good journalism - are sacred. We don't always get it right but our desire to do so never wavers.