THERE is no escaping the war in Ukraine. It is on our TV screens day and night, on every radio news bulletin, and in all our newspapers, including this one – very much so.

That’s how it should be. No one should be turning a blind eye to this horror, no matter how much we may sometimes want to switch off. It matters very much to all our futures.

At The Herald, we have a duty to report all that is going on. However, should we allow all these horrors to spill on to our pages unfiltered? How far should we take into account the sensitivities of our readership?

In some ways, the TV companies have it easier than we do. They can, and do, issue warnings. You will often hear them intone: “The following report contains distressing images.” Newspapers can’t do that. When we take a decision to put a picture on Page 1 (or anywhere else for that matter) it’s done. We can’t tell you not to look.

That is why we must be mindful of what we are printing. The issue was raised the other day by a reader, who complained: “In the article ‘Russian troops fleeing Chernobyl plant after exposure to radiation’, there is a photo of bodies on the ground. I am concerned as to why the photo was published? Was it to sensationalise the horrors of the war, and tragedy unfolding in that brave country, or perhaps to illustrate the death toll and suffering of the people of Ukraine? ... How do I explain the photo to my young grandchildren?”

The first point to be made, emphatically, is that we are not in the business of sensationalising anything. Secondly, yes, we must illustrate the suffering, but we must always do so in a responsible manner.

Picture Editor Craig Alexander says: “As a newspaper it is important to report an accurate account of what is happing in a conflict such as the one in Ukraine. However, we also try to strike a balance with what we think is acceptable without offending our readers. We try not to show faces in such images in an attempt to protect the dead people’s families and their dignity.”

Some will argue that we should not pull our punches. After all, there all sorts of horrors freely available to view on social media. People are much more desensitised than they used to be – as is evidenced by some of the content on our Letters Pages.

There are undoubtedly war crimes being committed in Ukraine. We must play our part in exposing them. But we need also to be aware that we don’t have an off switch – as, indeed, should our readers.

Please let us know if you feel we have got the balance wrong.