COMMENT | On Thursday night I was glued on my couch watching the news of the six divers who were recently drowned while on a mission to rescue a teenager, on RTM's TV1.

As I watched the solat jenazah (prayer for the departed) held for the demised heroes and the six caskets draped with the Jalur Gemilang ready sent back to their respective hometowns for burials, my heart wrenched.

The news team then captured images of the grief-stricken parents, siblings, spouses and their little children saying their last goodbyes at the burial ground. It was a horrible moment for the families. However, the horrible moment was then made worse when the media showcased an interview with grief-stricken family members of the victims.

Upset with the intrusion of privacy and the line of questions, I switched from RTM to TV3's Buletin Utama TV3 followed by Bernama TV only to be slapped by another few series of interview sessions with the family of the victims, crying and all puffed up, clearly very much distraught with their recent loss.

And I wondered, why can’t our media give the families of the victims some privacy when covering a story? Don’t the family members of the victims have the right to grieve in private without reporters bugging them?

The print media seemed no different. Allow me to quote one of them:

“Mazlan’s mother said she found out about the death of her son from his colleagues. She said the fourth of six siblings had been working in the Fire Department for six years and had always enjoyed his job. She, however, broke down and could not say much after that.”

Now, please tell me, how does this piece of information add value to the story...