[Zunaid]

Finally a voice of reason from the press. Mahfuz Anam from the Daily Star:

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesig...php?nid=222368

An appeal to fellow journalists

We are obviously deeply agonised by the murder of our two colleagues Meherun Runi and Sagar Sarowar, and we want the earliest possible solution of this case and punishment of the killers.

However, in our eagerness to cover the story and seek justice, we are perhaps unthinkingly subjecting Mahir Sarowar Megh, the 5-year-old son of the murdered couple, to additional trauma and stress by constant exposure to the media questioning.
The boy has already suffered the greatest trauma that a child can possibly experience by being an eyewitness to the murder of both his parents.

We cannot know, or perhaps even imagine, what psychological and emotional impact the sight of his murdered parents might have had on him.

By questioning him to recall details of the incident, we are forcing him to suffer more, and hence running the risk of damaging his condition further.

We appeal to our media colleagues to leave the child alone and help him recover with the love, care and company of his relatives.
We will of course try to cover the story as intensely as we can. However, in doing so we must adhere to one fundamental ethical norm of our profession -- do not hurt or cause pain to the innocent, especially if the person happens to be a child.

-- Mahfuz Anam