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Prince Harry's No-Longer-Secret Afghan Tour Ended
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The criticism by Wallis was noteworthy because his tabloid normally reports on the royal family with unbridled gusto. While it honored the blackout, in Friday editions it ran an ad seeking photos and stories about Harry that read: "Have you served in the Army with Prince Harry? Call us in strictest confidence."
Anger over the broken embargo echoed around Australia on Friday following news reports that the first publication to disclose Harry's presence in Afghanistan was an Australian women's magazine called New Idea, which specializes in celebrity fluff.
"New Idea was not issued with a press embargo and was unaware of the existence of one," the magazine's editors said in a statement. "The story was published on Monday, January 7. Since then New Idea has received no comment from the British Ministry of Defense. We take these matters very seriously and would never knowingly break an embargo."
In Germany, a celebrity magazine called Woman in the Mirror mentioned Harry in its Feb. 27 edition. The headline read, "On a Covert Operation in an Area of Conflict?" followed by the subhead: "Prince Harry can be quite thickheaded. Now it seems he is actually serving in Iraq or in Afghanistan."
Marion Hellbach, an editor at the magazine, said the information for the story "came from a military source in England." Hellbach said the tip was that Harry was in Afghanistan, but because of the embargo, she said, the magazine added Iraq to the headline "out of caution."
"We decided here that this is important information that we should not withhold from our readers," she said. Asked if she had worried about putting Harry in danger, she said, "We feel we were very cautious with our wording."
While editors at several major news media organizations here have remained quiet about the news blackout, several published lengthy explanations Friday.
"It was an extraordinary and rare display of unity for national and regional newspaper and magazine editors and broadcasters not to report the story," said Bob Satchwell, head of the Society of Editors, a key broker in the deal with the Defense Ministry.
"Censorship, including self censorship, is of course an anathema to journalists," Satchwell said in a statement posted on the society's Web site.
He said many editors were concerned that the blackout would "dilute their future credibility with the public." In the end, he said, they agreed it would be wrong to put Harry and his soldier colleagues "at extra risk by publicising his deployment in advance."
Special correspondent Shannon Smiley in Berlin and researcher Jill Colvin in London contributed to this report.
