I am reading that Prince Harry of England was pulled out of Afghanistan, where he have been serving with his regiment since December, after an Australian newspaper and then The Drudge Report outed him. Major news organisations, like AP, CNN and many English newspapers, knew about it for months and even got exclusive information, interviews and photos with the understanding that they were not going to be published until after the story eventually leaked.
There is some discussion about if it is ethical for news organisations to censor information like this. As a techical writer, I have often been given information after agreeing to a non-disclosure agreement. So to me it is not a big deal.
As being in the military for 13 years, I understand that anyone that train hard and long want to be able to "test themselves" and do "the real thing", especially if your comrades are sent off to war. You are a unit, you train as a unit, and you fight as a unit. If I had been Prince Harry, I would been furious to have trained for years and then not been allowed to go.
I think the media instead should think about Harry. He did not ask to be born who he is. Sure, he get all kinds of perks, but he also have paparazzis and media around him whatever he does. Give the guy some freedom, let him have a life for a while. There is no need to knwo what he does every hour of the day, every day of the week. If he want to go party or pick up girls, let him do that. If he want to be a good soldier/officer and lead his men into battle, let him do that.
I respect Prince Harry much more than I respect someone like Britney Spears…