It didn't take long for Bryan Darby to get into hot water when he took on a new job as Government's director of information two decades ago.

A supporter of the people's right to know following a long career as a journalist in the UK and Bermuda, on his very first day Mr. Darby handed The Royal Gazette a Government report into a controversial incident surrounding billionaire Ross Perot.

Mr. Darby thought he was doing the right thing by publicising how well the authorities had dealt with the incident — the explosion of a live coral reef without permission at Mr. Perot's Tucker's Town mansion.

Unfortunately, while this newspaper had a field day with the document, Mr. Darby's employers were less impressed at his gesture of openness — and many never trusted him again.

"I thought this was my chance to do what we have all been saying this year," said VSB's veteran journalist as he recalled his appointment to the post. "First day on the job, the phone rang. The Royal Gazette said they just heard that Mr. Perot out in Tucker's Town had been caught blowing up a reef outside his dock — is it true and what is Government doing about it?"

He made internal inquiries and was presented with a file — which he stresses was not marked secret — including comments from the Attorney General and Marine and Ports.

"I said this is just what the Gazette needs," said Mr. Darby. "I told them everything. I honestly thought in my naivety that's what I was employed to do.

"Unfortunately, it turned out that that file was secret. They were absolutely livid that the Gazette had it; it made international headlines.

"It showed the Government's way of approaching this thing, but none of it was for public consumption. The minute I did that ... I never got another file. I was treated as an outsider."

Asked why he felt the document should be reported, Mr. Darby replied: "Get it in the public domain that you don't go around blowing up reefs. Government were standing up for people. I thought it was a wonderful, positive Government story."

Mr. Darby spoke to this newspaper yesterday as our A Right To Know: Giving People Power kicked off a series of articles to mark Sunshine Week, an initiative first launched in the US promoting public access to information and open government. A Right To Know is calling for Government to fulfil a long-held promise to pass a PATI law this year.

On A Right To Know and PATI, Mr. Darby said: "It's one of the most essential rights of a so-called democratic society. We are all in it together ... there's no them and us.

"When it comes down to them sharing our money, making decisions affecting people, we have 'a right to know'. That's what you guys are doing, and I throw all my support behind you."

Asked how attitudes to transparency affected the way he goes about his job at VSB, he said: "It's the current climate of distrust and disdain that we are getting from the political side of things.

"It really deeply offends me because we have a job to do and we are doing it on behalf of the public, who put these people in their positions in the first place.

"I'm offended at the lack of public outrage at the covering up of reports and the atmosphere and climate of secrecy that exists in politics. Not just the PLP, it's been going on for years.

"Politicians as a whole distrust the press. They almost seem to distrust the public's ability to conceive a story intelligently."

One example of why people should not be kept in the dark, he said, was the public outcry when the plan to rebuild King Edward VII Memorial Hospital at Botanical Gardens was unveiled.

"To everyone's credit, the public rose unanimously in disgrace and in horror and got them to change their minds. It should never have been a secret in the first place," he said.

Regarding difficulties getting basic information from cases at Supreme Court, he said: "It's very irritating because public justice has got to be seen to be done."

On similar problems with Bermuda Police Service, he said: "It's still a struggle. I call and say: 'Have you got anything on such and such?' They say: 'It's not in the computer.' I say: 'I know it's happened.'

"They will call you back a day later. You find out later there was a political connection or a personal connection. It's a very hard one. I don't think in all seriousness that the media is lily white. I think some of the things that all of us have done are mostly fuelled by frustration. You get to a point sometimes when you just go with a story you know is true, but you have not got official confirmation."

What are your views on PATI? E-mail arighttoknow@royalgazette.bm