Upon Journalism further

In the recent furor over the supposed Koran abuses by guards at detention centers, I find myself wondering about the line between thorough reporting and responsible self-censorship. When reports first surfaced regarding the Muslim scripture having been "flushed down the toilet", Islamic followers across the globe reacted with the all-too-common "Death to the American infidels!" response. Newsweek later begged off this story, and admitted that their source may have been less than credible. Now today we see that the Pentagon has come out and admitted that something along those lines may well have occurred at Guantanamo Bay.

Now, while I believe that covering up abuses such as this would lead us down a slippery slope, I am still left to wonder whether we need to put things like this into the international media. The abusers are wrong, and they deserve to be disciplined. However,with the anti-American sentiment that permeates much of the Muslim world, do we really need to be broadcasting the actions of a few idiots? Actions which will no doubt be misconstrued into representing America as a whole? Could something like this not be handled "in house", so to speak?

Freedom of the press, and freedom of information are integral components of a democratic society. The question I am grappling with is: though you are free to disclose information, does it mean you are compelled to? Does the benefit of reporting this story outweigh the repercussions?