The Globe and Mail had stories today about whether the Taliban had tried to snatch captive CBC reporter Mellissa Fung in Afghanistan's Wardak province and more on the journalistic ethics of suppressing the fact she'd been kidnapped.
A Taliban spokesman denied the insurgents held her and Afghan intelligence officials hinted that her captors were criminals. But insurgents from Wardak province, west of Kabul, said their band of Taliban fighters was among the groups that staked a claim to the valuable hostage. She changed hands at least twice, they said, and at least one Taliban fighter was killed in the squabbling over her fate.
The 'journalism ethics' story:
Throughout newsrooms participating in the embargo, yet another vexing question was repeatedly asked: Would we do the same for anyone else caught in similar circumstances?
Mr. Greenspon (Edward, the Globe's editor-in-chief) said an individual's safety must always be balanced against the importance of quickly informing the public.
"The principles by which we live in a perfect world are clearly not in alignment with [an embargo]," he said. "But we're not in the business of putting lives in jeopardy."
An array of major news organizations came to the same conclusion and held off reporting on the case until Ms. Fung was released on the weekend. ...
While top editors agreed to the embargo, journalists were far from unanimous.
Michèle Ouimet, a columnist with Montreal's La Presse, questioned the wisdom of engaging in negotiations with the enemy and the ethics behind the information freeze.
"Journalists are the first to invoke the public's right to information, but they become awfully sensitive when it comes to one of their own," Ms. Ouimet wrote.
Like Ms. Ouimet, one senior southwestern Asia correspondent wondered whether a person who was not connected to a powerful Canadian broadcaster would receive the same treatment.
"If we get into this argument, then every story we write has to be looked at with this in mind," said the reporter, who isn't authorized to give interviews by her employer.
The Fung case is not the first time that Canadian journalists have held back on publishing stories or omitted certain details to protect those involved.
In 2006, The Globe and Mail and other organizations refrained from referring to the homosexuality of Christian aid worker James Loney, who was held captive for 118 days in Iraq. It was believed Mr. Loney's extremist Muslim captors might kill him if they knew his sexual orientation. ...
Weeks passed and other kidnappings took place. In one instance, an embargo was honoured in the case of a Dutch journalist. She was released after nearly a week in captivity.
Michael Lescroart, editor of Belgium's P-Magazine, said the embargo played a key role in saving the life of the Dutch reporter, Joanie de Rijke. The quiet treatment of her case allowed talks to be held directly with the kidnappers, he said. She was kidnapped Nov. 1 near Kabul and released on Friday.
In the case of a French aid worker, the news spread quickly, partly because a bystander trying to intervene was killed when she was taken on a busy Kabul street. The woman is still missing. The Globe received no request to withhold the news in the aid worker's case.