transparency.

To date, the Government's policy has been the opposite. Reports from official inquiries and reviews are completed and never made public, or only made public at the last minute, Cabinet shuffles and moves are "announced'' in the Official Gazette, draft policy changes are circulated to a few, the Tourism Minister, in a fit of pique, stops releasing tourism statistics to the media and publishes them in the Official Gazette instead.

It is true that some Cabinet Ministers are open and accessible to the Press; it may come as no surprise that they tend to be more popular as well.

Politicians in general, and Governments in particular, do not have to speak to the media and may choose not to speak to particular journalists with whom they have had bad experiences. That is their right.

But they cannot refuse to deal with the media on the one hand and then complain about the bad Press they receive on the other. Nor can they accuse a newspaper or broadcasting operation of bias if they fail to respond to inquiries or to provide information. The media has a responsibility to report the news fairly and accurately, but cannot do so if the Government chooses not to supply it with information.

In the end, it is not the media which suffers; newspaper pages will be filled and broadcasts will be made. It is the public, which is deprived of the information it needs to make good, informed decisions, which suffers most.

VSB Radio and TV news director Chris Lodge this week expressed his profound disappointment at the difficulties of gaining access to Government at a media forum this week.

He pointed out that Premier Jennifer Smith, Finance Minister Eugene Cox and Education Minister Milton Scott are this week attending a forum of Caribbean leaders and the British Government in London about which there was no official announcement and no information.

The public has no idea what is being discussed at the forum, he said, and Government Information Services officers were "twiddling their thumbs doing nothing. GIS is a conduit...consequently the Bermuda public is in a vacuum. We are not getting the information we require and deserve.'' It is unusual for any journalist, who strives to maintain his or her objectivity in all circumstances, to take on a Government, as Mr. Lodge did this week. But it speaks to his frustration and the sense that the media as a whole is being prevented from doing its job.

Defenders of the Government will argue that the Progressive Labour Party has not received fair treatment from the media either before it came to power or since. But this newspaper tries now to report fairly and accurately on the Government -- but it needs the Government's side of the story in order to do so. The same is true for the rest of the local media.