I couldn’t have said it better myself. In this case, the speaker is Jo Groebel, head of the German Digital Institute in Berlin, in Deutsche Welle :
The German government says the Taliban carefully monitors German debates on Afghanistan and instantly reacts to any statements. Shouldn’t then some of the criticism aimed at the media be directed towards politicians who jump at every opportunity to express their views about the security situation in the country or troops?
Politics is, much like the media, all about making things public. Thus there is a very strong alliance between politics and politicians on one hand and media on the other because, of course, politicians need the media to express themselves. Unlike what the German government says, it must be said that in comparison to politicians, the media has been reporting on the Taliban’s activities in Afghanistan in a pretty modest manner.
But once again, I have to stress that if the terrorists manage to silence us and stifle expression, then they have already scored a major victory.
The principle is sound in a general way — i.e., in the face of threats and intimidation from CAIR or other groups. But it is not sound insofar as revealing information would compromise the safety of our troops — as in the New York Times incidents a few months ago.