It all started as a joke. Prime minister Paul Bérenger raised a laugh when he stated that the economic situation was bright and that the widely shared view that such is not the case was the result of a bleak picture painted by editorialists and cartoonists.

But the press may be in for a bitter laugh, as Paul Bérenger?s speeches have been slowly developing into something foul-smelling.

Pinpointing cartoonists, then columnists, before lashing out at live debates on private radios and reporters who ?do not check and countercheck their information?, the Prime minister seems to have lately embarked on a policy of pinning down the press. It all culminated in his statement last week-end that government is contemplating a ban on all live debates on private radios.

Banning live debates is tantamount to censorship and it is shocking that the prime minister and his cabinet can contemplate such an idea.

What is the prime minister after? Is he out against misreporting or does he want the press to see things the way he perceives them? Is he paving the way to curtailing the freedom of the press across the board through new legislation?

It is unlikely that the prime minister may have such a hidden agenda. After all we owe to his government the liberalisation of broadcasting which has resulted in the creation of three private radios.

But his various and repeated statements against journalists may throw the press into disrepute and erode its credibility. His criticism and his idea of banning live debates on radio follow unpleasant and nasty communal remarks made recently during a live debate on Radio Plus. True it is that these comments are most unwarranted. True it is that they are dangerous.

But then it is not through state censorship or control that one copes with such a problem. Is it the task of politicians or the regulatory body to act in all independence when such problems crop up?

The Mauritian press is mature enough to exercise self-control and self-regulation.

Instead of threatening private radios with censorship, the prime minister and the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) would have won applause if they had from the onset tendered financial and technical help to those radios for broadcast delay equipment.

Fortunately the IBA, empowered to control radio and television, has partly dispelled doubts that have cropped up in some quarters of the press following repeated attacks by the prime minister. IBA chairman, Ashok Radhakisson, has given the guarantee that no ban on live debate will be imposed.

Paul Bérenger would be wise to back down and allow the IBA to deal with the problem. The Mauritian press has fought for its dearly acquired freedom and will fight back at any attempt to restrict that freedom. Any decision by the State to curtail it in any way will be a thorn that will stick forever in the prime minister?s side.