False accusations against Belize Times Editor

It was bound to happen. With the massive hysteria surrounding child abuse in Belize it was only a matter of time before someone took advantage of the situation to make a false accusation. Today a number of media houses received anonymous phone calls from an individual who said the editor of the Belize Times, Michael Rudon, was in police custody and would be charged with molesting a primary school student. News Five quickly discovered through calls to police that the story was not true, that no report had been filed against Rudon and that the calls were a hoax. But that did not stop WAVE Radio, which ran the story in a news flash this morning. The report launched an avalanche of calls to the Belize Times from government ministers, members of the media and public. General Manager of WAVE Radio, Brian Mossiah, told News Five that their announcer had checked with police and was told that yes, a report had been filed. Based on what they saw as official confirmation, they went to air with the story. Mossiah says when they learned the story was false, they decided not to run it again. WAVE reporter Olden Young, told News Five he personally spoke with a police sergeant named Garcia who confirmed a report had been filed against Rudon. Young says after Rudon called him to deny the allegations and state that he had checked with Commissioner Brooks and there was no report, Young again spoke to Garcia who retracted his original confirmation. Young then asked to speak with A.I.P. Alvarez for an explanation of the contradictory statements. He says Alvarez told him Garcia had made a mistake and confused the query about Rudon with another case involving a man from Hattieville. This afternoon WAVE Radio, at the urging of Rudon’s attorney, ran a half-hearted retraction. But while WAVE Radio may have played fast and loose in their zeal to break the story, the question remains as to who would circulate such a malicious rumor about the editor of the Belize Times and why. At this time the circumstantial evidence points to Rudon’s rival at the Guardian Newspaper, Editor and Opposition Senator Audrey Matura Tillett. The U.D.P. Senator, herself no stranger to controversy, is reported to have been incensed over the Belize Times coverage of her recent altercation with a B.E.L. employee and subsequent traffic accident on the BelChina Bridge. On Monday Tillett told a Belize Times staff member in front of several other journalists gathered at the Central Bank for a press conference, that if Rudon didn’t “lay off” she was going to “expose” him. The Guardian editor has denied any knowledge of the anonymous calls this morning; however, she was busy on the phone to several media houses urging reporters to air the story in a big way. Only WAVE it seems, took the bait.