A Reform UK council leader has told ITV News he will not end his ban on the local newspaper service until the journalists apologise.
Nottinghamshire Live were told last week Reform UK's Nottinghamshire county councillors would not speak to any of its journalists after a disagreement over an article which was published.
In his first interview since the ban, council leader Mick Barton told ITV News Central he will not speak to Nottingham Post reporters again until he receives "a full apology".
"The one thing I am every day in my working life is professional, but unfortunately I think from their point of view they haven't been totally professional.
"They asked me for opinions but they weren't putting out what I said. They were spinning what I said, cutting it in half, making it say something different.
"I need a full apology and then a way of working forward that's professional," he said.
The ban means the paper, which has been delivering news to the city since 1878, cannot talk to Reform councillors in any capacity, except in emergency scenarios like flooding.
It also applies to Local Democracy reporters, of which ITV News Central and other news outlets often use.
The ban, which has been criticised by union bosses as a blow to democracy, came into force after an article was published claiming that two Reform county councillors would be suspended from their county council group if they did not vote for Cllr Barton's preference of a bigger Nottingham covering Broxtowe and Gedling.
Cllr Barton said this story was "total folly" and "really upset one of the councillors".
When asked if he had investigated whether these claims were true, Cllr Barton said he "didn't have to" because his councillors had told them it wasn't true.
He added: "I take my councillors opinions very seriously and I've stood by them."
He also said he was not banning councillors from talking to anyone, if they wanted to, but he was simply not allowing press releases to be sent to the news outlet.
Natalie Fahy, the editor of Nottinghamshire Live and Nottingham Post, told ITV News Central: "Seven days into the ban, I'm still absolutely shocked that a politician would do this to the free press.
"This is an attack on our democracy. It's straight out of the Reform playbook.
"We're not here to be biased, we're just asking questions. The article that got us banned is not only accurate… but it's an important issue we're trying to bring to light to people because it's going to cost the taxpayer a lot of money."
Cllr Barton told ITV News he had "no issue with speaking to any journalist", but had banned Nottinghamshire Live because they had "made it personal" towards him.
In response, Ms Fahy said: "It's certainly not a personal attack on Mick Barton. Why would it be? We're just doing our jobs.
"I'm happy to resolve the issue amicably. I've dealt with so many council leaders over rough patches in my 20 years as a journalist. But we won't be apologising, we've got nothing to apologise for."
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