Slate's Jack Shafer nails it with regard to the kidnapping of Christian Science Monitor stringer and kidnap victim Jill Carroll. Media outlets colluded to hold the news of her kidnapping secret for several days in an effort to gain her freedom.

Sitting on newsworthy information is an unnatural act for most reporters�some would say unprofessional�and nobody can argue that the kidnapping of Jill Carroll isn't newsworthy. By effortlessly banding together across several time zones to squelch information in the name of protecting one colleague in Baghdad, American journalists placed themselves in a hypocritical position. Didn't their leading newspaper just publish national security information over the objections of a White House that protests that the story endangers the lives of millions of Americans?

Journalism's wounds are self-inflicted.