The August 23 hostage crisis in Manila that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead showed the Philippine media industry at its competitive, fearless best - and worst.
The perception that Filipino journalists are sometimes reckless is supported by the annual body count of Philippine journalists killed in the line of duty, consistently among the highest in the world.
But it was not journalists who were in harm's way on August 23. And that has left the industry in the critics' cross hairs, including those of some within the industry itself.
Nestor Burgos, the chairman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, said: 'Some colleagues clearly violated ethical standards and established procedures and guidelines in covering crisis situations, including hostage-taking incidents.'
As the stand-off between hostage-taker Rolando Mendoza and police dragged on for almost 10 hours, and as darkness crept in and rain pelted the city, the situation descended from a seemingly manageable crisis, in which Mendoza had been releasing hostages and negotiating with authorities, into a public spectacle that was like a gruesome reality TV show.
The location and the players were perfect for a taut TV drama: a tourist bus; 25 tired travellers; one disgraced and deranged cop-turned-hostage-taker; an inept and ill-equipped local police SWAT team; a disorganised crisis-management team; and a rambunctious gang of reporters. Eleven hours after Mendoza boarded the bus, that combination proved lethal: nine people dead, including seven tourists and their guide from Hong Kong, and the gunman himself.
Several others were hurt, but the other major casualties were relations between Hong Kong and Manila, the authority of Philippine President Benigno Aquino, and the integrity of the country's media, particularly the TV and radio networks that led the live coverage of the incident - Radio Mindanao Network (RMN), ABS-CBN and its rival GMA.