Those of you in the Seattle area may already be familiar with this, but for those, as I am, who aren't:
The FBI wants to talk to two men who were observed near the ferry boats in Washington state. They seemed, according to news reports, to be interested in the ship's operation, and were photographed. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran an initial story here
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/328396_ferries21.html and here:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/328396_ferries21.html with no picture of the two men. This caused some controversy and the editor responded to that here:
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/thebigblog/archives/120406.aspA local TV station did run a picture of the two men here:
http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_082007WAB_suspicious_ferry_passengers_TP.53aaa2a3.html. The Seattle Times also ran the picture, but on the second day of the story.
The P-I elected not to publish the photos, citing civil liberties and privacy concerns, which editors felt outweighed the newsworthiness of the images. "We have no confirmation that these men's behavior was anything but innocuous, and to forever taint them by associating them with terrorism under these circumstances is not consistent with our policy," said David McCumber, P-I managing editor. There's also the question of a possible lawsuit if they're wrong.
Conservatives I know think the PI should have published the pictures. As a former journalist myself, I argue what the PI did was correct and that until there's more evidence of wrongdoing, they shouldn't.
Your thoughts ...