But any passing embarrassment or justified indignation must never blind us to its vital role in both the health and protection of democracy.

"Those who wish to destroy democracy and its freedoms know this well. It is why their first act is often to try to muzzle the media. It is also why we must all be vigilant in safeguarding the freedom of the Press at home and abroad.'' -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Here in Bermuda, we often take freedom of the Press and the underlying right of freedom of speech for granted.

In newspapers, in the broadcast media, on talk radio and now increasingly on the Internet, people enjoy the right to express their opinions and journalists have the freedom to report the news.

So it is sometimes difficult to believe that elsewhere, journalists are killed and imprisoned for their reporting, sometimes by governments who do want the truth about their regimes to come out and sometimes by criminals or other private citizens who do not want the truth about their actions to be revealed.

Nonetheless, every country must work hard to ensure that the press remains free.

Creeping limitations on the rights and freedoms of the media are less dramatic than the imprisonment of journalists or the forced closures of newspapers or TV stations, but no less dangerous.

Indeed, the insidious nature of one small action after another -- often in the name of "fairness'', or due to the need for "responsible reporting'' -- can be worse because it will take longer for the public to realise that they are being denied the truth.

The public is entitled to know what its leaders are doing and why, how public funds are being spent, whether laws are working or being enforced, how companies and institutions function and so on.

This work, especially in a small community like Bermuda, can be uncomfortable for the public and for the journalist, but it is vital. Small compromises can mount up for what seem to be the best of reasons, until neither the public nor the press know exactly where they stand.

The media's independence can be threatened if private monopolies have too much control. This has been a concern in Bermuda in the past and may well be again.

But Bermuda is forunate now that it has a vibrant and highly competitive media -- indeed, it may have the heaviest per capita concentration of journalists in the world.

The media does not get it all right all the time. We make mistakes and sometimes it takes time to establish the whole truth of a story.

But the truth will come out in the end, warts and all. And in the end, honest reporting which is both fair and accurate, will result in a well informed and free people able to make good decisions about their lives.

And that is why a free press is vital.