by Bob Satchwell, Society of Editors

Discussions started in the middle of last year to find out if Prince Harry could be deployed to a war zone without the huge publicity and controversy that surrounded a previous attempt to send him to fight in Iraq.

The prince was desperate to join his army colleagues in the front line. Army chiefs wanted him to go to war like any other young officer who had been expensively trained for the task. It seemed pretty clear that his family wanted him to fulfil his ambitions too.

Editors across the UK media have known since last December that the prince was fighting the Taliban. Until they were told that he would be going to war fewer than 20 people knew of the plans. The secret was then kept close among senior journalists on a need-to-know basis. Even high ranking officers, junior government ministers and staff at the prince’s home, Clarence House, were not told at first.

Editors accepted a purely voluntary “understanding” with the Ministry of Defence that specifically stated that the blackout applied only to his military duties in Afghanistan and not to any of his other hobbies or activities, such as late night socialising.

In return there would be special access for the media to the prince before, during and after his deployment which could be reported when he returned home, without any interference by the Royal family or the military except for reasons of operational security.

It was an extraordinary and rare display of unity for national and regional newspaper and magazine editors and broadcasters not to report the story.

The Society of Editors was asked to help when it was agreed that a Defence Advisory Notice would be inappropriate and it was not a matter for the Press Complaints Commission.

It was the task of the society to act as a go-between the military and editors and to try to maintain the agreement despite regular alarms when it was feared the blackout might be breached overseas and the internet would mean the UK media could no longer maintain the silence. At times editors could have broken the story with own exclusive but the understanding held. Finally, yesterday that is what happened and the secret flooded out.

Censorship, including self censorship, is of course an anathema to journalists. In the lengthy discussions about the wisdom and ethics of doing this deal many editors voiced their concerns. They were anxious that it might dilute their future credibility with the public and some also thought Prince Harry should not go at all because of the risk it would bring to bear on his fellow soldiers.

The consensus was that as army chiefs had decided the prince would go to war it would be wrong to put him and his soldier colleagues at extra risk by publicising his deployment in advance.

In fact media blackouts are not that unusual. We do not report kidnaps, at the request of the police, if a hostage’s life might be a risk. We often know about the movements of politicians or royalty so that coverage can be planned but do not report them until they are safe.

Prince Harry’s deployment to war was of a different order but the deal was blown, not by the UK media but by a foreign website, the Drudge report.

It is reasonable to ask about the point of a media blackout in the internet age. In this case it lasted more than 10 weeks, to the surprise of many of us involved.

It was not a matter of misleading readers, listeners and viewers. In fact they would get a deeper insight into a new side of Prince Harry from the Press Association reports resulting from the unprecedented access.

It would have made still bigger headlines and even longer TV programmes had the blackout held until planned in early April.

The media is damned if it does, and damned it is does not. In this case, Secretary of State Des Browne MP thanked the British media and Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt said editors took the commendable attitude to restrain their coverage.

Hopefully you, the public, who are never slow to complain about the media, will agree.

Bob Satchwell was editor of the Cambridge Evening News from 1984 until 1998 and was formally an assistant editor of the News of the World and associate editor of the Lancashire Evening Post. Since then he has been executive director of the Society of Editors which is based in Cambridge and represents more than 400 editors in all sectors of the media.