A robust debate has erupted about the balance between national security and the public’s right to know when it surfaced that The New York Times and The Washington Post knew about a secret drone base in Saudi Arabia 18 months ago and did not report it. Writing in The Guardian, February 6, 2013, Karen McVeigh quotes Lehigh journalism professor Jack Lule, “The decision not to publish is a shameful one. The national security standard has to be very high, perhaps imminent danger.”
Gawker’s Adrian Chen reported that a British newspaper, The Times, and Fox News had reported the location of the drone site in 2011 indicating that the newspapers were not protecting a state secret but “helping the CIA bury an inconvenient story.”
Some critics are saying that the liberal newspapers The New York Times and The Washington Post are doing favors for the Obama administration that they would not have done for Bush. (International Business Times, February 7, 2013, by Ellen Killoran) -db