Press gagging is the last resort IT may not be a truth universally acknowledged, but chaotic, big-spending governments heading for electoral disaster seem inclined, as a last resort, to gag the press. Defeated, the Gillard government has now put aside both the Conroy media "reform" package and the Roxon bill declaring offending unlawful, hoping all is forgiven. It won't be forgotten that the government is now tainted as dangerously authoritarian. The point is that a robust press, totally independent of government, is essential to democracy. The regulation of the press has nothing whatsoever to do with the Federal Parliament - for several reasons.