Premier Dr. Ewart Brown yesterday made formal what has been a policy of the Cabinet Office for some days now when he confirmed that he had ordered his staff to "reduce contact" with this newspaper and the Mid-Ocean News, which is owned by the same company.

This decision, while disappointing, is not surprising, and it can only be seen as the latest salvo in a war that Dr. Brown declared on this newspaper more or less from the day he took office.

This shot comes a little more than a year after Dr. Brown and the rest of his Cabinet agreed to ban all Government advertising in this newspaper, a ban that continues to this day.

While Dr. Brown has maintained that that decision was taken on the basis of cost effectiveness, this newspaper believes it has made an excellent case refuting that notion, albeit to no avail.

And although it would be foolhardy to pretend that the advertising ban has had no effect on the financial condition of this newspaper, we are still standing.

So Dr. Brown has now taken the next step of cutting off the flow of information for the Cabinet Office and his Ministry of Transport and Tourism, presumably on the basis that information is the oxygen on which a newspaper depends.

Dr. Brown's statement claims that he hopes that the "reduced contact" he has ordered will "prevent a total breakdown of communication between the Premier's Office and these publications".

This Orwellian logic must be seen for what it is – the equivalent of holding a knife to a person's throat in order to get them to talk.

It goes without saying that this is a total breach of the principles of a free press which are fundamental to democracy.

That's because the greater loss is not to this newspaper, but to the public whom we serve.

It is the general public that will be deprived of information that is critical to making good decisions about their lives. And it is the general public that should be outraged by this.

People might be forgiven for thinking that this newspaper's journalists have been asking questions of the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Transport and Tourism that no journalists anywhere would ask. But that is not the case. The questions in today's newspaper are those that have been asked recently. Ask yourselves if they seem unreasonable, unfair or dare we say it, "plantation questions".

We have in recent days covered the divisions within the Progressive Labour Party over Dr. Brown's leadership. We have covered the Premier's attempt to dismiss the head of the civil service. We have covered a court's finding that a Tourism employee was unfairly dismissed from Dr. Brown's Ministry.

We did not make those stories up. They are real events that we have an obligation to cover. In all of those cases, we have done our best to be fair and accurate and to give all sides their say. Some people have chosen to do so; others have not.

But this is the essence of newsgathering. These are stories that are unquestionably in the public interest. Not to report on them would be to do the public a disservice.

Equally, in recent weeks we gave positive coverage to the Ministry of Tourism's announcements on new hotel developments, most notably the Grand Atlantic project, which received front page coverage, again because it is in the public interest.

This newspaper will not change its approach to the news. We will continue to do our best to cover matters of public importance fairly and accurately. When the Premier does something of public importance, we will do our best to report it, whether we have been told about it or not.

And we will continue to ask questions. When they go unanswered, we will tell the public what the questions are.

It is true that the editorials that appear in this space have been critical of Dr. Brown for some time. We make no apologies for that.

And if Dr. Brown thinks that will change because he has "reduced contact" with this newspaper, then he is a very poor judge of character. This newspaper will continue to judge Dr. Brown's performance on the facts, whether as Premier or as Minister of Tourism and Transport.

When Dr. Brown or another member of his Government achieves something, we will say so and give credit where it is due, just as we have in the past. And when we believe he or a member of his Government is wrong, we will say so too.

Some readers and non-readers will disagree with those opinions, as they are entitled to. But they should remember the saying: "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."