New York Times justifies withholding Davis' links with CIA

"The New York Times had agreed to temporarily withhold information about Mr Davis's ties to the agency at the request of the Obama administration, which argued that disclosure of his specific job would put his life at risk.

"Several foreign news organizations have disclosed some aspects of Mr Davis's work with the CIA," admitted the daily in its story on Monday after "American officials lifted their request to withhold publication".

The newspaper's disclosure on Monday that it withheld information about Davis's connection to Central Intelligence Agency has kicked up a powerful response.

In an attempt to justify its stand, the newspaper's Public Editor Arthur Brisbane has written an article, saying, "As profoundly unpalatable as it is, I think the Times did the only thing it could do."

He added: "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. The alternative, though, was to take the risk that reporting the CIA connection would lead to Mr Davis's death."

Brisbane said that in military affairs, there is a calculus that balances the loss of life against the gain of an objective; but in journalism, though, there is no equivalent.

"Editors don't have the standing to make a judgment that a story -- any story -- is worth a life. I find it hard to second-guess the editors' assessment the State Department's warning was credible and that Mr Davis's life was at risk in a country seething with anti-American feeling," he said.

The newspaper, however, admitted that the constraint played havoc with coverage, obviously.

"For nearly two weeks, The Times tried to report on the Davis affair while sealing off the CIA connection. In practice, this meant its stories contained material that, in the cold light of retrospect, seems very misleading," Brisbane wrote in his article.

He added: "It was a brutally hard call that, for some, damaged The Times's standing. But to have handled it otherwise would have been simply reckless. I'd call this a no-win situation, one that reflects the limits of responsible journalism in the theater of secret war."

Davis has been charged with murder after shooting two Pakistani men in Lahore on January 27. His detention has sparked a diplomatic crisis between the US and Pakistan.

Washington insists Davis has diplomatic immunity and acted in self-defence when he shot two men in a busy street in the eastern city of Lahore on January 27, fearing that he was about to be robbed.