THERE is no disputing Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's contention, made in a meeting with a delegation of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors in Islamabad on Thursday, that media should express its views without any fear but at the same time give priority to wider national interests. Hardly anyone would have reservations about the way media has played its role so far. Barring a few exception, it has been up to the mark performing its professional duties in a manner that has been lauded all over. The CPNE Chief, who expressed satisfaction with the government's approach of ensuring freedom of the press, was right in saying that media could not sit in the government's lap either. His suggestion that media should adopt a self-regulatory mechanism as is the norm in other countries would prove to be a step in the right direction. Given the turbulent times the country is currently passing through, the role of media, the fourth pillar of the state, has become all the more important. It has to be invariably impartial without taking sides.