Via My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ….

Tragically, however, we in the media have made mistakes. You may recall that in April 1983, some 60 people were killed in a bomb attack on the U.S. embassy in Beirut. At the time, there was coded radio traffic between Syria, where the operation was being run, and Iran, which was supporting it. Alas, one television network and a newspaper columnist reported that the U.S. government had intercepted the traffic. Shortly thereafter the traffic ceased. This undermined efforts to capture the terrorist leaders and eliminated a source of information about future attacks. Five months later, apparently the same terrorists struck again at the Marine barracks in Beirut; 241 servicemen were killed.

A 1986 Washington Post article discusses how to safeguard our freedoms while covering terrorists acts.

I think this is a fatal mistake. It is a slippery slope when the media start to act on behalf of any interest, no matter how worthy — when editors decide what to print on the basis of what they believe is good for people to know. It’s dangerous if we are asked to become a kind of super-political agency.

Terrorism has taken on a whole new dimension since this article was written 20 years ago. And the media continues down that slippery slope.

Also at Flopping Aces.