Stephen Corbishley, the Commissioner of Police, and Dexter Smith, the Editor of The Royal Gazette, met yesterday to thrash out an arrangement that has resulted in Mr Corbishley withdrawing his complaint to the Media Council of Bermuda in relation to the newspaper publishing the animal cruelty video on its website last week.

While agreeing to disagree over whether the content of the video was in the public interest, having been mass-circulated on social media for 72 hours before it appeared on the Gazette website, the newspaper accepts that some of the comments that were allowed to stay on the site, pre-moderation, were inappropriate and could have incited retaliatory violence. We did not do our due diligence in properly moderating comments in a timely manner and apologise for any harm or undue stress caused.

It is very possible that the police’s job could have been made more difficult by the threat of actions against the accused, their families or their properties.

The Royal Gazette values the role the Bermuda Police Service play in the community and repeats that the video, which contained graphic content, was intended only to assist in the apprehension of those who tortured the two young lambs.

We hope to move forward in good spirit and best practice, as evidenced in our successful collaboration in the Drive for Change campaign.