The media seems to be under attack from all quarters. Most notably Punjab Governor, but also other politicians, have lashed out against it and accused it of sensationalism. There may be a small grain of truth somewhere in these charges - the need for greater professionalism and better enforcement of ethics is always there - but there is a broader, bigger and more important truth that cannot and should not be thrust aside. We have, through too many decades of our history, lived in an environment of extremely harsh restrictions on the media. Those of us who can recall the years under dictators Ayub Khan or Zia-ul-Haq know how terrible it was to be deprived of information, being fed on a regular diet of lies. The stifling of free thought and expression has contributed to the difficulties the nation faces today and media merely reflects the frustration we see everywhere. Many problems that have their roots in the 1980s or before were kept hidden from the public view allowing them to grow and fester. Then, a media revolution ushered in after 2000 when private TV channels first appeared. This is an immensely important development. The situation we see today is preferable to the dull monotone we had under the PTV monopoly of the past. Any effort to highlight political wrongdoings must be appreciated. The anger of politicians over such efforts, in fact, shows that the media is having an impact in the right place. -MUHAMMAD ARSHAD NADEEM, Islamabad, via e-mail, November 23.