In 35 years' reporting from Solomon Islands, I have never seen such secrecy as the last few months | Dorothy Wickham

Journalists have been chased from parliament by police and attacked by the prime minister. Now more than ever we need a free press

At the end of April, a reporter and a cameraman stood outside the national parliament in Honiara. They were trying to film the Solomon Islands prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, as he walked in. But police arrived and chased them from the building.

It prompted outrage among journalists. As they stood around discussing it afterwards, one said in Pijin: Ma any cathedral," meaning as if it's a cathedral" - a sacred place where filming is inappropriate. Everyone burst out laughing. This was a democratic country's parliament, which journalists have a duty to cover.