Times withholds news

June 30, 2009 04:57 pm

— David Rohde’s escape from his Taliban captors was a welcome news story. But the media suppression of his seven-month captivity by the media was not.
Rohde, a New York Times reporter, was held by the Taliban, who requested $25 million for his release. Rohde escaped in late June. The Times, along with 40 other major news organizations, decided not to release the story for fear that publication would magnify Rohde’s value by “virtue of publicity.” The Times said it was an agonizing decision not to go public.
Certainly, it was agonizing, but it was wrong. The media has a responsibility to report news, and in the past, it has not been timid about reporting kidnappings when they involved persons of military or political importance. And in some prior kidnappings of journalists, public coverage and appeals appeared to lead to their early release.
One journalistic expert commented that it was unfair to second-guess the Times. Second-guessing is always questionable, but the real issue is the media’s responsibility and the precedent that has been set to withhold information from the public.