-- but I can't give any details at this point in time.' And Mr. Cox declined to confirm or deny whether the celebration was to be paid for out of taxpayers' money.'' -- The Royal Gazette, September 30, 1999 One week ago, Mr. Cox, the Finance Minister and then-Acting Premier, said the Progressive Labour Party was planning some kind of celebration on the first anniversary of its November 9 General Election victory.

The Royal Gazette understood the event was being billed as a "birth of democracy'' celebration and that it might be funded by Government.

Mr. Cox did not confirm or deny that Government would be funding it, thereby leaving open the possibility that taxpayers would be assisting with the funding of a partisan political event.

Then on Monday, Premier Jennifer Smith told ZBM that no such celebration was being planned or funded by either Government or the PLP, although she did not rule out the possibility that someone might be planning something. She then accused the Opposition of being irresponsible in making any comment on the event.

Prompted by ZBM's reporter, she also came close to agreeing that Civil Servants should have denied the story, ignoring the fact that the acting Premier had already confirmed that something was in the works.

The next day, in a passing remark to a Royal Gazette reporter, Ms Smith said: "No such thing exists.'' Well, now we know. Why wasn't it said that "no such thing exists'' right at the start? The bigger problem is not whether the Government, or the PLP, or someone else, was planning a celebration. The problem is the continued dearth of information that is available from the centre of Government on just about anything.

Politicians and the media will have a relationship which verges on the adversarial. Politicians like to be presented in a good light and the media likes stories involving conflict, ideally concerning issues and ideas. No-one would welcome a relationship between the media and a Government which was too cosy; politicians who are only concerned with their public images and journalists who have lost their independence cannot serve the public well.

But silence, whether it is over a non-party or matters of real public importance serves no-one well. It only leads to confusion, as in this case.