Royal Gazette editor Bill Zuill launched a spirited public defence of the paper in a speech last night saying despite the Premier's "war" against the publication, he's still ready to sit down and talk.

Mr. Zuill was addressing Sandys Rotary Club after months of increasing hostility from the Government, which has seen it axe advertising and implement a "reduced contact" policy with the paper.

"Never have relations between the media and the Government, or in any event, the Cabinet been worse," he noted, in a speech that defended the paper strongly against allegations of bias.

Mr. Zuill stressed the responsibility of journalists to investigate and criticise governments, thus helping voters decide whether to keep them or sack them. He also noted the growing numbers of public relations officers employed by Government to make it look good, alongside those who phone talk shows and host radio shows.

He told the Rotarians he had no problem with those who push the Government line as part of their job, but continued: "There are times when I wonder if the secondary goal is not to do everything possible to discredit The Royal Gazette as an independent voice in the community.

"It is interesting to note how, often when a story that is vaguely critical of Government is published, a howling campaign begins, often not directed at the story itself but at the messenger.

"Please don't misunderstand me on this. I am not complaining, and we can and do respond. But it does get tedious to be constantly defending your work and the honest and hard working people who produce it.

"The same people will claim, wrongly in my opinion, that they only do this because The Royal Gazette is so hopelessly biased. In fact, they say, The Royal Gazette should come out and just admit its bias and get on with promoting its point of view.

"That's a nice thought, except that The Royal Gazette is not biased. It tries to report the news fairly and accurately. It tries to get both sides of the story, to ask questions and to determine what's truth and what is rumour not always easy in this community where 'everyone knows' are the two most dangerous words in the language.

"We are also the first to admit when we don't get it right. But it's not easy when you can't get your questions answered; when the Premier himself said we ask too many questions for his press secretary and the rest of the public relations apparatus to answer.

"Remember, these are people who are paid by the taxpayer to answer questions. These are the people to whom the Government insists we put our questions to because it does not want us to bother Ministers directly."

Mr. Zuill said he is amazed to hear people claim that the Opposition United Bermuda Party got a "free pass" from the newspaper when it was in power and that "such claims are plain fantasy".

He pointed to various occasions when turmoil and division in the UBP were reported the leadership of Jack Sharpe in the 70s, the costly and mistake-ridden airport terminal project in the 80s and Independence in the 1990s.

The point, said Mr. Zuill, is that newspapers will cover the party in power in greater detail than the Opposition because the party in power can do things.

"Still, never in my experience as a journalist in Bermuda have I seen so many resources dedicated to controlling the message of Government. And never have relations between the media and the Government, or in any event, the Cabinet been worse.

"Don't get me wrong. A certain amount of tension between Government and the media is not a bad thing, and it is certainly not worse than a media that is too cozy with a government. That is really dangerous," he noted. "And journalists know that public relations officers want to put their employers in the best possible light. And editors expect reporters to ask questions and not simply take what they are given.

"But there's a point where a relationship can go from healthy tension to stressed to breaking point, and that's pretty much where the media's relationship is with the Government now. And yes, within the media, The Royal Gazette probably has the worst relationship with [the] Cabinet Office, although its relations with many other Ministers and Ministries are perfectly workable."

He told the Rotarians he'd tried to arrange a meeting with Dr. Brown after he became Premier to tell him that the paper was not his enemy, was keen to run positive stories and would always strive to be fair and accurate. However, he said, the invitation never came and a year later Dr. Brown told him he was "at war with The Royal Gazette".

As further symptoms of the "toxic relationship" that has grown since, Mr. Zuill pointed out how soon after the newspaper launched a campaign for Freedom of Information legislation last year, Government announced it was cutting all advertising in this newspaper and all of its subscriptions.

"The claim was that this was a cost cutting exercise and that Government believed it could get better value for its advertising dollar elsewhere. We did not think that was the reason then and we do not now."

He explained that a study conducted on the newspaper which showed it was the most cost-effective way of reaching the largest number of people had been submitted to the Government.

This month, said Mr. Zuill, it emerged that the Premier had ordered the public relations officers responsible for his office and his Ministries to "reduce contact" with The Royal Gazette and the Mid-Ocean News.

"Most of you know about the subsequent events, the howling campaign that followed, the Human Rights Commission's decision to seek guidance on the legality of such a move and so on, and I don't intend to go into great detail here on it," he said.

"What does seem to be the case and we have not been given any official word on this is that "full service" has been restored for press releases and times for press conferences and the like, but that press officers will pick and choose what questions to answer.

"Questions that are perceived to be loaded, skewed or 'plantation questions' won't be answered, apparently. That's OK. We will publish the questions that don't get answered and let the public decide if they are skewed or not.

"Some of these decisions were announced at an 'informal chat' to which the Premier invited journalists. We chose not to attend, because we did not see the value of debating a policy directed solely towards us, and whatever issues the Premier may have with us, in a relatively open forum while a clearly hostile policy was still in place.

"You will see from this speech, that I have made efforts to improve this relationship without success. Again, I am happy to sit down with the Premier at his convenience to air out some of these issues. I am reasonably certain that we will have to agree to disagree on some things. But, as Winston Churchill said, jaw jaw is better than war war, and I am ready to talk."