Why NYT kept mum on Davis' links with CIA

Amid criticism that several American publications, including The New York Times, withheld the information that Raymond Davis has links with the US Central Intelligence Agency, the newspaper has defended its move, saying it needed to balance providing information with responsible journalism so as not to endanger his life.

Davis, an American Embassy employee, was arrested for killing two Pakistanis on January 27. Last week, reports emerged that he was working undercover for the CIA.

The newspaper said that on February 8, the State Department spokesman P J Crowley, had contacted the paper's executive editor, Bill Keller, asking him not to speculate charges in the Pakistani press.

"He was asking us not to speculate, or to recycle charges in the Pakistani press," Keller said.

"His concern was that the letters C-I-A in an article in the NYT, even as speculation, would be taken as authoritative and would be a red flag in Pakistan."

Crowley told Keller that Washington was concerned about Davis' safety while in Pakistani custody, and hoped to avoid inflaming Pakistani opinion and to create "as constructive an atmosphere as possible" while working to resolve the diplomatic crisis.

The US has asked for Davis to be sent back, which Pakistan has, so far, refused to do.

UK-based The Guardian reported the CIA connection and that American

news outlets knew "but have kept it under wraps at the request of the Obama administration."

After the news broke, the State Department asked several US publications to wait for another 24 hours while the US worked to secure Pakistani authorities' commitment to place Davis in the "safest possible location", the newspaper said.

"As profoundly unpalatable as it is, I think the Times did the only thing it could do," writes Arthur Brisbane, the public editor of NYT, in the opinion pages on the newspaper on Monday.

"Agreeing to the State Department's request was a decision bound to bring down an avalanche of criticism and, even worse, impose serious constraints on The Times's journalism," Brisbane said.

"The alternative, though, was to take the risk that reporting the CIA connection would, as warned, lead to Mr Davis' death."

Bob Woodward, renowned journalist who recently published "Obama wars" about secret operations in Pakistan, noted that the Davis case was just the "tip of iceberg" when it came to the scale of covert operations being carried out in the region.

"I think the aggressive nature of the way all that is covered is good because you are only seeing part of the activity," said Woodward.

"But you just don't want to get someone killed," he said, adding, "I learned a long time ago, humanitarian considerations first, journalism second."