Some anchors and reporters caught up in such settings are known to have become hysterical, throwing perspective to the wind. During the first attack on the Manawan police training centre, for instance, the casualty figure was initially inflated ten-fold before someone somewhere acknowledged that it was too early to tell what was happening on the ground. Imagine the impact such ‘reporting’ might have had on family members whose relatives were trapped in the training centre at the time. Consider the wider panic whipped up by the media, wholly unnecessarily, in these days of unprecedented fear and loathing.

At least one gas-cylinder blast has been reported as a bomb explosion. Clearly, facts were not checked before being presented as news. Not too long ago, the movement of rescue commandos was splashed across television screens, potentially leaking vital information to the hostage-takers via their associates on the outside. Anyone with access to a television set — and that includes children — has been bombarded with gruesome, gory images of both the victims and perpetrators of terrorism. That wasn’t diligent journalism, and added nothing to the viewers’ understanding of the news. What it did was further terrify an already brutalised nation. Conversely, it may have also desensitised people who may come to conflate tragedy with routine. It happens all the time in Pakistan, what else is new. How many dead, what was the ‘score’ this time? No child or young adult should grow up thinking that way.

Against this backdrop it is heartening to note that eight Pakistani television channels have voluntarily agreed to a code of conduct that, if adhered to, could go a long way in addressing the concerns mentioned above. It is hoped that more channels will come on board in due course. Both journalism and the media organisations themselves will benefit from this new approach. Objective reporting may one day become the standard, though that is clearly a distant dream. Following this voluntary code of conduct may also pre-empt moves by an ostensibly democratic government to censor the press. There is talk that coverage of terrorism could be used as an excuse to introduce unrelated controls pertaining to vague and hugely exploitable concepts such as ‘national interest’ or bringing state institutions into ‘ridicule.’ By showing greater responsibility and professionalism, the media can itself prevent moves to gag freedom of expression.