THE deadly attack on the station house officer of Karachi’s Preedy police station on Thursday morning has left yet another Pakistani family torn apart by grief. An investigation is under way, yet there are other dimensions to this tragedy that deserve being highlighted — such as the electronic reportage of the incident.

According to doctors at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where the body of SHO Ejaz Ali Khawaja was received, the victim’s widow arrived saying that she had come to know about the attack from the ticker running on the news channel she had happened to be watching. It is impossible to imagine the level of apprehension this woman must have experienced as she, with her toddler, made her way to the hospital — only to learn that her worst fear had come true. The strength of that emotion can only be matched by opprobrium for the news media that deemed it fit to release a name for the consumption of the general public without confirming that — as is standard journalistic practice across the world — the victim’s family had been informed first.

Yet why should we be surprised when time and again, unhappily, a large section of Pakistan’s electronic news media has failed to show the sensitivity that would have been fair to expect as the country plummeted down the vortex of violence. From television crews giving away the movement of law-enforcement agencies during the 2009 Manawan Police Academy assault, to the broadcast of blood, gore and pain in the aftermath of bombings or other violent incidents, to the privacy of victims’ families being violated by cameras and indelicate questions, the country’s news media seems bent on committing serious errors of judgement. The issue has been raised often, with media houses even agreeing on a self-imposed code of conduct a few years ago. That lapses should still be taking place is shocking. Can the plea be made, once again, that the thirst for ratings not be allowed to trump the values of humanity?

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2015

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