LAHORE, April 17: Speakers at a seminar were unanimous that there should be a code of ethics for the media, especially for the coverage of natural disasters and catastrophes.

At the seminar entitled `Media coverage during crisis situations’ under the aegis of the Lahore Press Club and American Consulate at the Nisar Osmani Hall here on Thursday, Elizabeth O’ Colton, press attaché at the US Embassy in Islamabad, said it was the duty of journalists to report truth in the public interest. The report should be fair, have accurate facts or information and portray a balanced picture of different aspects of a situation.

“Crisis is a defining moment for any job. If you don’t get a right story, please do tell it to the public. It is the responsibility of a journalist to give fair and accurate information as soon as possible,” Ms Colton said. Only the media itself can enforce a code of conduct, she added.

Mayo Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Fayyaz Ranjha proposed that there should be press briefing centres on the pattern of the foreign office at hospitals with dedicated people to disseminate information. “In situations like explosions, several media people reach emergency wards of hospitals. A doctor’s priority in such a situation is the patient, but the crowd of 200 to 300 media people and their queries affect administration of the medical aid.”

Rescue 1122 founder Dr Rizwan Naseer recalled that a TV channel crew asked rescuers working at the FIA building soon after the March 11 suicide attack not to begin relief work before they shoot the scene.

He said the electronic media should have informed people that portions of The Mall and Temple Road had been closed for rescue operations and all other city roads were opened. “Instead, a channel aired the news alert that all schools in the city have been closed. As a result, parents rushed to schools to pick up their children, causing traffic mess on many city roads. Recently, a power transformer burst in Gulberg, but a TV channel broadcast that it was an explosion. This naturally caused unrest among the people whose kith and kin live in Gulberg or work there. However, the same channel aired the true news after a while. Credibility of news is more important. Let us do it with a sense of responsibility,” said Dr Naseer.

Civil Lines Police Superintendent Ahsan Younas admitted that his department officials `go by their own priorities’ in any crisis without satisfying the media. “We have always tried, but not succeeded in setting up media centres at such sites. Media people should have patience and not enter such places, especially explosion-hit places. Had there been a five to 10 minute interval between two explosions at the Pakistan Navy War College, media people could have been among the victims,” he said.

Journalist Khawar Naeem Hashmi said it was because of the media’s role that even people with very low income came out to help the victims of the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir and NWFP. It was the ordinary people who took part in rescue activities after floods in Sindh and Balochistan. He said media people should expose people taking advantage of crises. “The prices of coffin cloth increased manifold after the 2005 earthquake, transporters raised fares in the affected areas and the Karachi Stock Exchange witnessed a tremendous growth,” Hashmi recalled.

Journalist Azmat Abbas said the media’s role as a watchdog could not be undermined. “It was the media which belied government claims that Benazir Bhutto was injured by a lever of her vehicle’s sunroof. Don’t consider the media your enemy and please be accessible to us in order to prevent the flow of wrong information.”