A New York Times reporter has just escaped from captivity in Afghanistan. They sat on the story for seven months.

The kidnapping of David Rohde, a local reporter, Tahir Ludin, and their driver, Asadullah Mangal had been kept secret until now by the Times and dozens of other media organisations out of concern for the men's safety... The executive editor of the Times, Bill Keller: there was "a pretty firm consensus that you really amp up the danger when you go public", he said. "It makes us cringe to sit on a news story," but "the freedom to publish includes the freedom not to publish".

So let's be clear on this: the news media knows that publicizing this kind of thing endangers the life of the hostage. Remember that the next time you see a MSM story about a hostage ...