The Department of Tourism says it was “instrumental” in a cover story on scuba diving in Bermuda in the August issue of Sport Diver Magazine — despite what the magazine's editor told The Royal Gazette.Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert said the Department paid for the writer of the story to visit Bermuda, contrary to claims by Sport Diver Editor Mark Evans, who said promises of help from Tourism “came to nothing”.Mr Furbert said yesterday: “It is unfortunate and disappointing that the local daily paper has published a piece which maligns the hard work being carried out by the Department of Tourism.“Sadly the story is quite inaccurate and ill researched. Had the reporter actually engaged in journalism and not sensationalism, the facts of the situation would have been easy to ascertain.”The Royal Gazette stated on Friday stated that it did in fact attempt to seek a response from Tourism on Mr Evans' comments but an e-mail series of questions was written but it was never sent due to a technical issue.The Minister continued: “Contrary to the recently agreed code of the Media Council, there was no contact with anybody at DCI or the Ministry prior to the publication of this story.“We are actually delighted with the cover story of the Sport Diver magazine and can confirm that the writer Stuart Philpott visited the island on April 25, 2012, for a seven day stay.“The Royal Gazette reporter may well be shocked to learn that the trip was funded by the Bermuda Department of Tourism, and coordinated through the Department's Public Relations agency in UK.“The Department paid for the writer's airfare, accommodation and transportation around the Island.“The top story, praised by The Royal Gazette, was therefore a direct result of the significant support of the Department of Tourism.“Negative reporting, such as this, totally defeats the purpose of the story in the first place.”However, Sport Diver editor Mark Evans had told us: “After much contact back and forth with the UK representation for the tourist board regarding sorting out an editorial trip to Bermuda, and the possibility of a 16-page 'Guide to ...', eventually it all came to nothing despite endless promises of assistance, and the only reason that we managed to get any articles on Bermuda — and a cut-down, 12-page 'Guide to ...' — was through the sterling efforts of two individual dive centres, assisted by two hotels.”He also said Tourism said they'd “sort flights, etc, and never did, and so we had to work direct otherwise it wouldn't have happened “.Mr Evans could not be reached to respond to yesterday's statement from Tourism.The Tourism statement said that since publication of The Royal Gazette's story, the UK Public Relations agency has been instructed by the Minister to reach out directly to the editor of Sport Diver Magazine, as well as the feature writer, ”to understand their position and to discover whether they were aware of the glaring inaccuracies as reported in The Royal Gazette story”.“Our UK agency will speak to Mr. Philpott and Sport Diver editor, Mark Evans, and ask for clarification on the statements attributed to the magazine.“Sport Diver is considered a great partner, in a very important niche segment of our business,” Mr Furbert said.“The Ministry is currently working with two larger circulation UK diving titles for press visits.“We intend to continue to promote the huge benefits of this niche segment, as highlighted in the National Tourism Plan, and I am ready for The Royal Gazette to join us in this effort.“I also look forward to a full apology and retraction of this misleading story by The Royal Gazette”.The August article headlined “Bermuda in the movies” traces the steps of movie stars Nick Nolte, Robert Shaw and Jacqueline Bisset in The Deep, one of top grossing films of 1977, which was based on the true-life exploits of author Peter Benchley's friend and treasure hunter Teddy Tucker.The article points out Bermuda is known as the “wreck capital of the Atlantic, with more than 300 historical wrecks scattered around the coastline”.