[WikiEN-l] News suppression: Did it use Oversight or RevisionDelete?

[Joseph Reagle]

On Thursday 16 July 2009, FT2 wrote:
> ::Archived at: http://marc.info/?i=e71d9fab0907161320j56d701abi481968d1875db570@mail.gmail.com
> 
> Update: I've now checked the case, and yes I had heard of this matter. But
> being on a break for the last few weeks to deal with real-world matters, I
> hadn't made the connection just from the words "Rohde/NYT". I checked which
> article with Rohde in the title, also covered the NYT as well. Luckily there
> was only one.

Huh, that surprises me, because right in the history log we see that Rohde was kidnapped:

[[
(cur) (prev) 277165071277165071 11:43, 14 March 2009 Vrv2764 (talk | contribs) (4,707 bytes) (Added report of possible kidnaqpping in Afghanistan) (undo) 
(cur) (prev) 277062968277062968 22:23, 13 March 2009 Cbrown1023 (talk | contribs) (4,575 bytes) (Undid revision 277012138 by 70.79.212.223 (talk); see WP:Reliable sources and WP:BLP) (undo) 
(cur) (prev) 277012138277012138 17:47, 13 March 2009 70.79.212.223 (talk) (5,626 bytes) (Added info on 2008 kidnapping with references) (undo)
]]

I even said this to the NYT reporter when I spoke to him and he implied that this information had been suppressed... So that's two possible wrinkles from the original story:

1. The page was protected, but nothing more.
2. The kidnappers had asked that the information be suppressed as part of their demands, rather than this being the initiative of NYT.