TODAY I BRING you a sorry tale of self-censorship. No, not from your favourite newspaper in poor Hong Kong, where our critics assure us that liberty is slowly but surely being snuffed out by Beijing's ever-more-stifling rule. The tale I tell comes from further afield, from that home of the free press and land of tough independent journalists, the United States.
Dan Rather, CBS television's veteran newscaster, has uttered the truth that no journalist has dared speak in public: the US media has been censoring itself in its coverage of the war in Afghanistan. In an interview with the BBC's Newsnight programme, Rather revealed that he and his colleagues in the US media no longer asked tough questions of US politicians.
He said the climate of patriotism that had enveloped the United States after September 11 had made journalists hesitant about offending politicians. He said this new atmosphere 'keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions'. The CBS evening news anchor, in keeping with his reputation for integrity, honourably adds: 'I do not except myself from this criticism.'
Rather's revelation might come as news to the American public, but it is something that foreign correspondents in the US have felt since September 11. If there was any doubt, the game was given away pretty early in the day by Walter Isaacson, CNN's president, who, a month after the war in Afghanistan had begun, issued an edict to his journalists asking them not to waste too much time reporting the Taleban's point of view, or to dwell too long on the damage produced by US bombers in that country. Instead, he urged his journalists to 'talk about how the Taleban has harboured the terrorists responsible for killing close to 5,000 innocent people'.
Not being a watcher of CNN, I have no idea how their reporters in Afghanistan responded to their boss' order. I can imagine the scene: against a backdrop of bombs and missiles thudding into some godforsaken collection of mud huts, a CNN correspondent intones gravely: 'Let us not forget how the Taleban has harboured the terrorists responsible for killing close to 5,000 innocent people.'
Mr Isaacson's demand for more 'balanced' coverage of the news echoes something that governments all over the world keep asking of journalists. 'Please balance the good news with the bad news', is a constant refrain from government media managers. But, as journalists instinctively know, good news is seldom news. 'No planes crashed at the airport today' is not a headline you will see in any newspaper. 'Hundreds die in mid-air collision', on the other hand, will have you reaching out for that newspaper on the newsstand.