Should Journalists Withhold Information From the Public?

The March 3, 2005, edition of the Los Angeles Times has an article headlined Media's Role in BTK Case Scrutinized, by P.J. Huffstutter and Stephanie Simon.

With the arrest of Dennis L. Rader in the BTK homicides in Wichita, KS, journalists have begun to acknowledge they passed communications from the suspect to authorities. They have also acknowledged that they sometimes acceded to police requests to withhold information. Some are wondering if their decisions to honor the investigators' suppression requests were the right ones. Consequently, employees from the Wichita Eagle newspaper and KAKE-TV have begun to disclose all that had previously withheld.

The Los Angeles Times article reveals the journalists'conflicts.