Media should follow the right path

The News International phone hacking scandal in the United Kingdom has been making headlines for nearly a month, as the UK's best-selling Sunday tabloid, News of the World, published its last edition, a handful of high-ranking officials resigned, and quite a few people were arrested. But still the firestorm is yet to be doused.

What lessons can be drawn from the scandal? Western critics have accused observers in developing countries of schadenfreude, but outsiders can sometimes have the clearest view.

For too long, media in the UK have made a point of claiming they fly the flags of freedom, democracy and human rights. But it seems they only have a theoretical knowledge of what can and cannot be done in a civilized society. There are obvious discrepancies between what they practice and what they preach.