A former press secretary to President Bill Clinton said yesterday that Bermuda must move to correct bad information if it wants to effectively project a positive story about the Island?s role as a global financial centre.

Michael McCurry, who served as press secretary from 1995 to 1998 and was described by CNN ?as one of the most popular White House press secretaries in recent history? addressed the Bermuda International Business Association?s annual general meeting yesterday.

The advice he had for Bermuda ? correct mis-impressions and fight bad information in order to get out a positive picture of its business environment.

?Sometimes we let inaccuracies and mis-truths get halfway around the world before truth gets its running shoes on,? he said.

?So, remember you always have to catch up with the bad news and do as best as you can to get your positive and very important story in front of the people.?As press secretary, the ?self-appointed pi?ata? for the Washington Press Corps ?would hang myself out there everyday and they would whack whack whack to see if anything interesting would dribble out?, Mr. McCurry said.

He also served as a senior advisor to John Kerry in his unsuccessful run for president in 2004 and previously served as spokesman and political strategist in the presidential campaigns of Senator John Glenn in 1984, Governor Bruce Babbitt in 1988 and Senator Bob Kerrey in 1992. He currently works as a partner at Public Strategies Washington where he provides communication advice to corporate and non-profit clients.

The difficulties associated with communicating effectively and being well understood were the topics of his speech yesterday.

Mr. McCurry said an information revolution has radically changed communications with gigabytes of information now easily accessible without the coinciding ability to process this information and use it rationally.

?The attention span of the Press Corps and political community lasted about as long as the half life of a Washington Redskins? game when they were doing well. The tendency to flit off and jump to some other subject is extraordinary,? he said, pointing to events such as Hurricane Katrina and even September 11, which only kept politicians? attention away from bickering for three months.

?We are liberated (in the way) information comes at us constantly but it has the peculiar ironic effect of making it harder for us to do what we need to do to come together, to communicate with each other and bridge our differences and get on with business,? he said.

Mr. McCurry said Senator Kerry had ?goofed up on the subject of outsourcing in Bermuda? ? but said the debate was not, in fact, personal.

?A lot of the confusion about Bermuda and what it is in the world today comes from people who just don?t have the time to pay attention,? he said. ?I hope people in Bermuda will not take that discussion personally. That is about domestic politics. It is about the structure of taxation in the States.?

He added: ?Probably when people heard that debate here in Bermuda they did not realise that it was not so much about Bermuda but about the way in which candidates were positioning in the States.?

It does point out the need for a ?relentless effort to really focus on what Bermuda offers?, however.

?There is a new brand for Bermuda,? he said. ?It is not just a destination site for tourism any longer. It is a major international financial centre. Given its history and the ?know your customer? ethic, it has a lot to offer to the international financial community and that story needs to be told very well ? of course, that is what BIBA is all about.?

To communicate more effectively, he suggested the Island try using the Mike McCurry five Cs which ?qualify anyone to be a press secretary for a US president? ? credibility, candour, clarity, compassion and commitment .

Credibility is the first ?C?, he said, lightly reminding the audience that he had been the press secretary to President Clinton.

?As you communicate effectively your reputation as someone who is a straight-shooter, and someone who gives factual information, and someone who is reliable, will prove you to be not only effective in front of an audience but a good source for the press,? he said.

While it is easier to go on the defensive rather than admit mistakes ? since the human impulse is to say ?I did not have sexual relations with that woman Monica Lewinsky? ? candour is also important, he said.

?The desire to try to explain away is what gets so many of us in trouble. So, search out and find those opportunities for candour because that is refreshing and enhances your reputation for credibility, which is why the two go together,? he said.

Clarity is key as you must find a way to make sure your message is understood while compassionate communicators will listen to their critics, he added. The final ?C? is for committing to communication.

?Collectively, most organisations do under invest in their capacity to communicate and tell stories,? he said. ?People in that function are sometimes considered overhead, not at the core of business. But if you think of brand reputation and identification as being key to bottom line, you begin to understand that investing resources is absolutely vital.?

The best defence is a strong offence, he suggested.

?Storytelling and getting your message across has to start long before people start raising the criticism,? Mr. McCurry said.

?That is probably where many officials here in Bermuda have never felt like they really needed to be proactive. That is not, probably, the Bermuda way.

?But that is what people are learning and, as Bermuda emerges as a significant player in international commerce and the global economy, they will get better at doing that kind of educating.?

It is always fair to stand up and correct the record with the American media when it needs to be corrected, he added.

While politics in the US tends to be characterised by its bitter, adversarial nature, Mr. McCurry said he can envision a day when politicians will bridge their differences.

?We have had a very bitter partisan gridlock now that has resulted in a stand-off in our Congress and not much traction for the last two presidents ? President Bush and President Clinton.

?But there is a likelihood that we are going into a time of change where there may be some reconfiguration of politics and the emergence of a more centrist, moderate faction that can actually have the ability to govern. So, it will be a time of interesting ? and I hope welcome ? change in American politics,? he said.

While conventional wisdom sees Senator Hillary Clinton positioning herself to run for President after she is re-elected as a US senator next year, he predicts she will not run if she does not believe that she can bring the country together.

?She witnessed what happens when the US government is divided bitterly between Congress and the President, when the two parties are not working well together,? he said.

?She went through impeachment and she knows what it is like to be in the White House when you cannot govern effectively because of bitter divides.?

Instead, he suggested, she may use her influence in other ways such as supporting someone who can bring the country together.

Mr. McCurry told the crowd to keep an eye on Governor Mark Warner from Virginia as the best and most likely prospect for the Democratic nomination while Governor Mitt Romney from Massachusetts is the emerging choice for the Republicans.

The real interesting scenario would be for someone like John McCain to come along and say we have had too much Republican versus Democrat, however, he suggested, saying ?I?m running for President as an American?.

?That will bring us a real change in our politics. You heard it here first,? Mr. McCurry said.