The Premier's decision to cut Government contact with this newspaper has attracted further coverage from abroad.

The Guardian newspaper and the website 'Index on Censorship' both highlighted Ewart Brown's restriction on the flow of information to the media yesterday.

Under the headline 'Bermuda's PM cuts off news to papers', veteran media correspondent and journalism professor Roy Greenslade wrote in the UK's The Guardian: "Bermuda's prime minister Ewart Brown has ordered his Cabinet Office officials to restrict the flow of Government information to the Island's main daily paper, The Royal Gazette, and its sister weekly, the Mid-Ocean News.

"He explained that his decision was aimed at 'reducing friction' with the papers. In March 2008, Brown's government stopped placing official announcements in The Gazette."

Meanwhile, the Index on Censorship's 'The Free Speech Blog' stated: "More trouble in paradise for the staff of Bermuda's Royal Gazette and its sister newspaper, the Mid-Ocean News, after Premier Ewart Brown bizarrely responded to their campaign for more Government transparency and a Freedom of Information law — by trying to cut their access to Government spokesmen.

"Brown has ordered communications officers at the Cabinet Office and Ministry of Tourism and Transport to 'reduce their contact' with the papers.

"Without apparent irony, Brown declared: 'This step has been taken in order to prevent a total breakdown of communication between the Premier's office and these publications'.

"Ludicrous as the strategy reads, it's seen as further evidence of Brown's frustration at the failure of his bid to silence the papers' criticism by stopping their state advertising and subscription deals in March 2008.

"This kind of 'soft censorship' is common across the Americas and the Caribbean, and roundly condemned by press freedom activists and by constitutional lawyers."

Blogger Rohan Jayasekera added: "And with the Bermuda Royal Gazette citing an independent 2008 survey that found their print and online versions reached almost 90 percent of the Island's adult population, the Government may be censoring its own messages to the public."

He went on to describe Dr. Brown's move as a "mean-minded strategy".

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) criticised Dr. Brown's press embargo as "an act of discrimination" in a statement issued earlier this week.

The Premier said last week he had taken the decision to "reduce contact" with this newspaper and our sister paper the Mid-Ocean News "in order to prevent a total breakdown of communication between the Premier's office and these publications" and to "reduce the rancour and lower the toxicity that have become the norm".

The restriction on Government information concerns both the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Tourism and Transport.

Robert Rivard, chairman of the IAPA's committee on freedom of the press and information, said: "To limit access to information of public interest is detrimental to citizens in that it restricts their right to know and that of the news media to provide news and carry out their role in an effective way."

Bermuda's Human Rights Commission is to write to the United Nations to seek legal advice on whether Dr. Brown's order violates the fundamental right to freedom of expression.