Taliban goes after journalists....

And, how many journalists now just play it safe???

The militants wore masks, carried weapons and came by the dozens. Still, they exhibited a strange sense of courtesy: They let the reporter's relatives leave the house before they bombed it.

Rehman Buneri, who works for Khyber TV in Karachi and contributes to Voice of America's Deewa Radio, was not home when the 50 or so gunmen showed up. Buneri told The Associated Press the gunmen said they'd been instructed by a "high command" to destroy the house because he had spoken negatively of the Taliban in a radio report.

As Pakistan tries to stave off a Taliban insurgency, journalists have been threatened, attacked and killed, and even their relatives have faced harm. The pressure hobbles a media that has flourished over the past decade and given Pakistanis a greater window into their often-inept government at a time when the world is watching.

Journalists say the culprits are both militants and government operatives, and that they appear determined to influence coverage. The picture is alarming enough that Pakistan is rivaling Iraq, Somalia and other conflict zones when it comes to danger to media, watchdog groups say.

Buneri, the journalist whose house was blown up, has since received threats telling him to keep quiet, "or otherwise they will silence me," he said. He has brought his relatives from Buner district to Karachi.