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But when the UDP's Guardian newspaper ran a tawdry picture of a prominent PUP female in last week's edition, it set off a firestorm of controversy. Did it cross the line? Isn't it women's month? Aren't people entitled to some level of privacy? Guardian editor Alfonso Noble, has one answer to all that: FACEBOOK. Jim McFadzean found out more as the women of the PUP staged a small protest against the article today:….

Jim McFadzean Reporting:
The very unflattering photograph of Gina Tillet, the President of the Cayo Women's Group of the People's United Party, found its way onto the front page of Guardian Newspaper's Sunday, March 20, 2011 edition, giving it the same prominence as the prime minister's 2011/2012 Budget Presentation.

Jim McFadzean:
"You've come under fire for the unflattering photograph of Gina Tillet which you published in last week's guardian newspaper. What was the sole intent of publishing of a photograph that-pretty much for most people-was just a moment of indiscretion for this young woman?"

AlFonso Noble, Editor Guardian Newspaper
"I don't think it's a moment of indiscretion for this woman at all. We need to understand that this lady is a leading political figure in the People's United Party. She in fact holds the position of being the President of the Women's Group of the People's United Party. And as such, I think that she ought to have conducted herself in a manner that is becoming of that position."

Jim McFadzean
"The printing of the scandalous picture, though, has enraged and fueled public debate about what some women's group are calling "exploitative and in extremely poor taste". Nowhere is that outcry louder than from the People's United Party's Women's Group who marched this morning to the offices of the National Women's Commission to bring attention to, what they say, is the deafening silence."

Carolyn Trench-Sandiford, Deputy Party Leader PUP
"I conveyed our disappointment that she is not prepared to listen to the concerns of women, not only of the PUP, but basically women in politics and Belizean women, who have chosen to be here because certainly we are concerned. Regarding the article that was published in the Guardian, We consider it distasteful, repugnant, vile and venomous, and a part of political instigation."

The political instigation aside, the indignation seems to be from both sides of the political fence. Kim Simplis-Barrow, the Wife of the Prime Minister and Special Envoy for Women and Children, says the media celebrating women, not denigrating them.

Kim Simplis-Barrow, First Lady and Special Envoy for Women and Children
"I will say this. I think that I personally would not have done it. I think that because we are celebrating Women's Month, we should be featuring women who are making an impact in our country. There are many women who are impacting this country in many ways, and I think that those are the women that we should be featuring in our front page of our newspapers."

Jim McFadzean:
"Does Mr. Alfonso Noble, and to a larger extent the United Democratic Party, owe women on a whole an apology for that photograph?"

Women's Group
"Absolutely!"

Noble say that he is not going to make any apologies for that photograph that he made front page in last week's Guardian Newspaper.

Jim McFadzean
"You won't offer any apologies to..."

Alfonso Noble, Editor Guardian Newspaper
"I will not offer an apology for what I did. I remain with my position."

The not-so-flattering photograph of Gina Tillett has sparked a new debate as to whether those in public office deserve this type of media exposure.

Alfonso Noble, Editor Guardian
"I don't think that I, in any way, violated her, if we were to look back and see the origin of that picture. That picture had its genesis at Facebook. Now Facebook, for those who don't know, is a national and international forum..."

Jim McFadzean
"It's also a particularly private group of friends and family that have access to whatever you place on Facebook."

Alfonso Noble
"Not necessarily, Jim. I don't even know who Gina Tillett is, personally, and i accessed her account and all the pictures because it's not just one. And they are not particularly flattering."

Lisa Shoman, Aspiring Standard Bearer
"That was not an unflattering photograph. That was a photograph with one purpose: to attempt to humiliate and degrade the President of the United Women's Group of the People's United Party."

Jim McFadzean
"Mr. Noble said that the photo was published on Miss Tillett's Facebook, which gives him a legitimate right to republish that photo because she has already exposed that photograph in the public domain."

Lisa Shoman
"Mr. Noble can use any excuse he likes. Facebook is either a public space or a space among friends. It is a private activity. Miss Tillett did not have web page or a Facebook page which was the property of the United Women's Group. That was her private business.

Mrs. Barrow says that the private lives of public officials should be kept out of the media.

Kim Simplis-Barrow
"I really don't think it (the life of a public official) should be (in the media). And it's unfortunate because you have seen the billboards, and there was no outcry from anyone saying that it is in courteous. No one went to the media to demonstrate or say anything but..."

Jim McFadzean
"Is that a justification for this picture of this (political figure)...

Kim Simplis-Barrow
"I'm not saying that and I will never say that."

Jim McFadzean
"It's been a week since Miss Tillett's moment of indiscretion was plastered on the front page of the Guardian Newspaper. There has been no comment, yet, coming the National Women's Commission. And that might just mean the commission has decided that to play it safe."

And mildly stepping up the public pressure - reports are that the PUP plans to protest in Belmopan tomorrow on the occasion of the budget debate.