Just to clarify, I was arguing against "shielding employees from the emotional burden of the full truth." I used that phrase to characterize what I felt was the author's thesis, and from there, to take a few issues with it.

When I said that there's a "fine line between shield...and creating..." I was basically trying to say what you guys are saying here: that 'mediating' the truth is a really dicey proposition.

I may not have phrased this as clearly as I could have, as evidenced some of the responses.