AP held story on Norway terror plot

The Associated Press didn’t report details of the Norwegian government’s investigation of three men allegedly involved in al-Qaida-linked terror plots against the United States and Britain. The wire service learned of the pending investigation in recent weeks, but held out from publicizing it out of concerns for public safety.

Spokesman Paul Colford told Yahoo! News that AP “agreed to hold off on reporting details of the investigation until after arrests were made because authorities had expressed concern that a preliminary story might compromise the ongoing probe and jeopardize public safety.”

News organizations don’t always comply with authorities’ requests not to publish, but in this case, the AP held back so as not to disrupt the investigation.

Janne Kristiansen, head of the Norwegian Police Security Services, didn’t specifically name the AP, but told reporters Thursday that police were “afraid evidence would be destroyed, because we knew that an international media organization was about to publish details of the case.”

However, Police Security Service spokesman Trond Hugubakken later made clear that the police didn't make the arrests because they were racing against a news organization.

"AP's knowledge of the case was only one of several factors that was taken into consideration when deciding on the timing of the arrests," Hugubakken said. "It was not the decisive factor."