Definition of Censorship, Please.

In the category of too unbelievably obvious to be really what they intended, this just in from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart...

Newsweek's cover story this week is an in-depth piece on the US involvement in Afghanistan, i.e. how the policy and military decisions are carefully, methodically and undeniably causing the US and its puppet government there, to be losing control of the country. Perhaps the article's conclusions are not all that surprising, given the reality on the ground and an ever-expanding morass of more extensive commitment (i.e. sucking sound) in Iraq.

The surprising thing (at least to this naive believer in a press that remains somewhat opposed to censorship) is how Newsweek decided that Americans did not need to read this story. Everyone else in the world may be informed, but not us.

Newsweek publishes three international editions, Europe, Asia and Latin America as well as the U.S. edition, and all three overseas editions ran the same cover story, "Losing Afghanistan: The Rise of Jihadistan" an in-depth report by Ron Moreau, Sami Yousafzai, and Michael Hirsh.

The U.S. edition ran with "My Life in Pictures: Through Her Lens" a photo-essay and interview with Annie Leibovitz. I didn't believe that the Daily Show had it right until I went to Newsweek Online and saw the banner with the four covers.

Do you notice the uh, discrepancy?

So, my question remains. Is this censorship? Or simply a recognition that the Jewish high holidays are upon us, and Newsweek wants to celebrate with Ms. Leibovitz? Or, it is really a reflection that the White House has the ability to make a phone call and quash cover stories which appear less than favorable to the Administration? Either way, does it bother anyone else but me that Newsweek's action so obviously smacks of censoring the content for its U.S. audience?

If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, is it still a duck if we say otherwise?

Uh, quack, quack.