They will know its pivotal role in securing a deal for Mr Fluffy homeowners. They will know it is why any of the government's questionable land deals have come to light.

They will know it is only through this newspaper that they have learned of the years of violence and abuse inside the Bimberi youth detention centre.

It is through this newspaper they learned the government's rationale for light rail is propped up by assumed land value increases and that the public transport case is marginal at best.

These are just a few fairly recent reasons for Andrew Barr to resent journalism in the city he governs.

But his attitudes are not new. He has revealed them in moments of pique as far back as his days as a junior minister. At times and after unfavourable stories he has temporarily blocked journalists - including all Canberra Times reporters - from viewing his social media posts and used his Twitter biography to taunt "lazy journalists".

He has lashed out at this newspaper over its pursuit of the full list of Mr Fluffy homes, even when it meant contradicting his own department's advice that its release was in the public interest. Two years ago he told an estimates hearing he "took great pleasure" in cancelling his newspaper subscription.

But what makes last week's leaked comments extraordinary is that they reveal publicly his desire and efforts to shape government policy to his personal, long-held enmity.

His hopes this newspaper will close down, and his vision of citizens hearing presumably only good news from his ever expanding communications teams, betrays a disturbing world view.

What frustrates him about the "filter" of journalism are the essential checks on power that democracy needs of a free press.Because of what he has said, Canberrans now have every reason to be suspicious of this chief minister and his government, the things it tells them and the things it seeks to keep hidden.

The Canberra Times is sorry the chief minister hates journalists and what we do. But our readers should know this: your newspaper will fulfil its duty in this city long after Mr Barr's time in power is over - and it will continue to do so in the interests of the public, not the politician.