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The media’s coverage of the House of Representatives’ inquiry into the controversial Bank Century bailout may be finally over, but fear not, the country’s intrepid news hounds have chased another story up a tree in their hunt for ever-increasing ratings.

After saturating TV screens with weeks of political intrigue — some would say comedy — the media have now turned to action: terrorist manhunts, complete with graphic footage of dead bodies and puddles of blood sandwiched between comments from terrorism experts.

Not everyone is happy with their nonstop coverage, however. Homemaker Irina Dewi is one of many concerned by the TV terrorism reports.

“I know it’s breaking news and that they’re trying to get as many viewers as they can,” Irina said. “But it doesn’t mean they can do whatever they want to make it happen.”

News analysts on Thursday weren’t so polite, saying that television’s rabid pursuit of high ratings was no excuse for the increasingly violent footage being splashed across the nation’s screens.

Most TV stations have followed the police manhunt for militants over the past week, all baying for the goriest visuals and the most emotive details, all in the name of ratings.

Media analyst Ignatius Haryanto said he believed that television stations were overlooking the media’s basic obligation to respect the public.

“By airing live the face of a just-dead terrorist suspect, [television] has gone overboard,” Ignatius said.

During a raid in Pamulang, Tangerang, on Tuesday, police shot and killed three suspected militants, including Dulmatin, who had been the subject of a global manhunt for his alleged involvement in several terrorist attacks in Jakarta and Bali.

Television news channels have since raced to air the most exclusive footage, including that of Dulmatin lifeless body, his face bloodied.

The stations, it seems, are resisting being house-trained in the niceties of journalism ethics. Last year stations came under a barrage of criticism following their excessive reporting of a police shootout with terrorists in Temanggung, Central Java; reports that were not only breathtakingly repetitive, but sometimes inaccurate and misleading as well.

One TV reporter’s supposed inside information that terrorist mastermind Noordin M Top was among those killed during the raid in Temanggung — information the media pack was only too willing to swallow whole without checking for bones — turned out to be wrong, or at least premature by a few months.

Imam Wahyudi, chairman of the Indonesian Television Journalists’ Association, said TV journalism in the country was “in a terrible condition.”

“We know things have gone bad when ratings are a bigger concern than journalism ethics,” Imam said.

However, Bambang Harymurti, deputy chairman of the Press Council, said on Thursday that the broadcasters’ coverage of Tuesday’s raids in Pamulang showed some improvement.

“There was some self-restraint,” Bambang told the Jakarta Globe on the sidelines of the East Asia Regional Media Program at the Asean Secretariat in Jakarta.

However, he said that some footage of the raids fell into the “gray area” of whether or not it was appropriate to air.

“If the broadcasters want to play it safe, they can announce a viewer-discretion warning before airing the footage or they can show the footage later in the evening,” Bambang said.

However, Imam said that regardless of viewer discretion, violent footage should not be aired during prime time when children would still be able to watch it.

“It has to be aired past children’s bedtime,” Imam said.

Bambang said featuring eyewitnesses was good reporting because it provided accounts “that balance the police version.”

He also said that favorable testimonies of terrorist suspects by friends and families was acceptable and should not be regarded as glorifying them. “They weren’t born as terrorists.”

Fetty Fajriani, vice chairman of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI), said the commission had not yet discussed whether it would sanction those TV stations that aired the graphic footage from the raids.

“However, for example, if they air [video footage of a dead] man’s head rather than a still photograph, we will most likely send them a warning,” she said.

Imam said the public could also take action against any stations they felt aired morally degrading content.

“Television belongs in the public space,” he said, “and the public has the right to curb excesses.”

Waleed Aly, a lecturer in politics at Monash University in Australia, said on Thursday that live coverage of terrorism raids was legitimate, but what matters is “how it’s done, not what is done.”

It still remains to be seen, however, if old news hounds can be taught new tricks.