Over the years, Negril.com has always tried to "keep things real". It has not always been easy, but facts are facts and truth is the truth. We want to thank all of you for helping us "keep it real".
I am sure that virtually all of you are aware of our policy of no posting of rumour and speculation here on Negril.com. There is already too much "fake news" readily available on the Internet, print media and even televised news programs. Negril.com will not add to the fake news cycle.
Our Negril Message Board has been referred to as an "always irie board". While I find being "Irie" makes life more pleasant, the truth of the matter is that you will always find the most accurate and useful information about Negril here than you will anywhere else. Negril is a real place, with real people who live real lives with all that comes with reality. Reality is not always "Irie". But rumour and speculation, of which there is no lack of, is helpful to no one and can actually be harmful.
Last month we had to remove inaccurate posts and close a thread based on pure rumour and speculation. Someone was demanding more information about a murder that never happened, and another was claiming a conspiracy theory between the government and the media. Both were false and based purely on rumour and speculation. Any first timer visitor would be given an inaccurate view of Negril and only serves to do harm and mislead.
Along the lines of misleading our thousands of viewers, there was a recent robbery at a beloved local bar. The story was first posted on Facebook and literally took on a life of its own. The story was rumour filled and libelous in nature. So as also not to be held in possible libel, we contacted the bar owners directly and verified the truth and posted it in response to one of our member's question after reading the FB libelous "news" story. The version we posted was not as "colourful" as the first story, but ours was truthful and accurate. We don't need to rely on sensationalizing already tragic events to drive up our traffic. We rely on accurate, useful and helpful information to do that for us.
Jamaican citizens and businesses are not taking this irresponsible sensationalizing of "news" stories involving them lying down. Being a grieving family member or victim of a robbery is bad enough without having to be further violated by strangers by having to read and answer questions about events that never even occurred, and then having to hire lawyers to stop the libel. I know of three cases where "cease and desist" letters were sent out to the offending parties. The "fake news" stories were removed by the offending parties so as not to face court cases based on their desire to sensationalize already sad events.
Let's not encourage these offenders who want to gain on the misfortune of others by these sensationalization tactics. If you do hear or read something that concerns you and you want to find out the truth, please feel free to ask here. If we cannot verify that something happened, then chances are it did not. The Negril Rumour Mill is as crazy as ever.
Thank you for your understanding.
