The plane crash, followed up by devastation of floods, then the brutal murder of teenage boys in Sialkot and, now, the match-fixing scandal in London. The role of media in portraying these incidents has been phenomenal. Some say the cameraman and reporter covering the killings of two brothers should have tried to stop the mob but there are others who appreciate their role. Otherwise, the whole incident would have remained unreported. Its true that there are two sides of a picture but some criticize the media too much for being a watchdog. There are others, though, that laud it wholeheartedly. I personally feel that all these incidents deserved the kind of reporting they got. We must not act as apologists for the extremists who always blame the media as an agent of the West. Media, actually, is an important pillar of our society. -ZULFIQAR HAIDER, Islamabad, August 31.