By: Joe Strupp At least 40 major news organizations knew long ago about the abduction of David Rohde of The New York Times, who was held for seven months in Afghanistan before escaping, but all agreed to keep it quiet.
Executive Editor Bill Keller said the newspaper requested what was essentially a blackout because it believed publicity could harm Rohde, who was kidnapped last November in Afghanistan.
?You hate to be in the position of sitting on a story,? Keller told E&P Saturday. ?All of the advice we had from those who have been through this is that if you publicize this, you raise his profile and his value to the kidnappers.
?You do not gain anything because the Taliban is not responsive to international public opinion.?
Rohde apparently escaped Friday, along with his driver who had also been abducted, by climbing over a compound wall and later receiving help at a Pakistani army base.
Keller would not comment on discussions that might have occurred to get his release, but confirmed no ransom was paid. ?Anytime you talk about the strategy, you are writing the playbook for how to do this,? he said.
In one twist, Rohde was technically on leave at the time of the abduction, working on a book (he was kidnapped while attempting to interview a Taliban leader for that), Keller said, adding ?he was still feeding us stuff? at that time. That feeding was enough to have Rohde included in the submission for international reporting that eventually won the paper the Pulitzer Prize in April, one of five it took home.
?It was a little bittersweet,? Keller said of the Pulitzer win, adding, ?I thought that some news organization would think they can?t sit on the [kidnapping] story after that.?
NOTE: See other stories at E&P site on how we took part in the "blackout" -- plus views on this by Poynter media ethicist Bob Steele -- and more.
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