The shocking and brutal terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India’s financial capital city formerly known as Bombay, have pitchforked into the world’s consciousness yet another fact about the world’s largest democracy: India has a first class news media and an impressive up and coming “new media.”
Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN have all turned to using extensive video and audio feeds from Indian cable and news coverage of the terrorist attacks that at this writing killed at least 101 people and wounded at least 250. And the quality, content, professionalism and compelling nature of the Indian news coverage has been every inch as good as anything I’ve seen on American or British cable television.
But there’s even more.
The terrorist attacks have underscored once more how the world is now instantaneously interconnected now due to the Internet. News from India and reactions to the terrorists attacks have come from Indians writing on Twitter and on weblogs.
UPDATE: This compelling entry comes from blogger Rajesh Jain:
It is still hard to believe what has happened in the past 10 hours in Mumbai. South Mumbai (Nepean Sea Road/Kemp’s Corner) is where home has been for the past 34 years. And to see places so close and so known being attacked really makes one wonder if anything or anyone is safe in today’s world. The Taj and The Trident/Oberoi are Mumbai’s best-known hotels and to see them being shown live even now on TV as scenes of ongoing terrorist encounters is kind of eerie.
I was on a conference call with a couple people in the US last night when I heard two loud noises. I didn’t think twice about that then, but when I had just fallen asleep, my wife Bhavana woke me up saying there had been blasts and attacks in Mumbai — she had gotten our MyToday News SMS. It was around 11 pm. We switched on the TV and then watched the whole nightmare unfold for the next few hours.
Even today morning, it is not yet over. What is astonishing is the brazenness of it all. The proximity of what has happened and the familiarity of the places where the incidents is still hard to believe. For Mumbai – “the maximum city, the city that never sleeps” – this is a nightmare which will leave deep wounds for a long time to come.
Here are some Twitter entries from near the attacked area in India:
–gsik: One terrorist has jumped from Nariman house building to Chabad house… group of police commandos have arrived on scene #mumbai
Mumbai–primaveron: @Mumbai Trident Hotel Helpline : 011-23890606, 011-23890505, 9810956888 | Dir Corp Comm, Oberoi Hotels| CONFIRMED HOSTAGE SITUATION
Mumbai, India–primaveron: @Mumbai Its a terrorist strike. Not entertainment. So tweeters, please be responsible with your tweets.
Mumbai, India–rum1t: is saddened by the Turn of Events in Mumbai. Empty Roads. Empty Trains. It is so unlike Mumbai. Hoping for the very best. God Bless!
Delhi – Mumbai
Twitter eventually was criticized by some in India for giving out too many details, although most entries seemed innocent enough. Some more:
–mumbai – Sreenivasan Jain reports on NDTV that there may be 5-7 terrorists still in the #Taj and 3-9 terrorists still in the Trident.
Prabhadevi, Mah?r?shtra–gsik: One hostage (Israeli woman and baby) seen coming out of Nariman House… no further info yet reports Times Now #mumbai
Mumbai–eldrichr: I’m wondering when life in Bombay will get back to how it was, peaceful!
Bombay–dina: #mumbai – attempts to talk to terrorists at the Trident. Route of dialogue is being confirmed by NDTV
Mumbai, India–calamur: @MumbaiAttacks: Correction, number for Mumbai Help Hotline is 91-11-2389 0606 . #mumbai CNN-IBN
Mumbaipaperslut: Mumbai University has cancelled all exams that were scheduled for today.
Mumbai
–dina: @twilightfairy no no – i think its just a silly rumour & blown out of proportion.#mumbai still lives. just a be responsible abt reporting
Mumbai, India–awtaney: #mumbai terrorists are putting up fire to stop forces from reaching them – indiatv
Andheri, Mumbai, India–tennytomas: feel that the news channels are being irresponsible in the name of breaking news #mumbai. they should not show the security force movements
Mumbai, India–dina: Retweet from @MumbaiAttacks: Correction, number for Mumbai Help Hotline is 91-11-2389 0606 . #mumbai CNN-IBN
Mumbai, India
12 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet
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–kyun: Just got back from #PaliMarket, three banks around the area all closed in #Bandra, #Mumbai
Mumbai, India
India’s blogs have been busy too. Some excerpts:
–Satyameva Jayete has several entries. Here’s one:
Some observations, rather hurried..more to come later.
* To the best of my knowledge, this was the first terrorist attack in recent times that involved hostages and a direct attack on the police
* The targetting of high-profile hotels, attacks on iconic buildings and foreigners suggests that at least part of the intention was to damage India’s image abroad as a country open for business
* There are reports suggesting that ATS’ preoccupation with the Malegaon blast investigation may have resulted in intelligence failure re. plans for this attack
* As Ashutosh mentioned to me in an email, we may see another “Kandahar” unfolding
* Going by death toll, this is by far the worst single-city terrorist attack in India’s history – although the attacks last month in Assam come close (in terms of sheer numbers)
* Thankfully no one has yet mentioned the “Spirit of Mumbai“
And from the first post on the attack:
I bow my head before the BRAVE POLICEMEN WHO WILL NOT SEE THE SUN RISE TOMORROW
May their souls rest in peace and may God give strength to their families and loved ones to cope with this calamity.
Our Prayers and thoughts are with them
Meanwhile, Kolkata is on alert (as is West Bengal)
and apparently at least one news-channel is mentioning a link between Malegaon and the attacks. Anyone else heard this?
***
Mumbai police confirm it is a terrorist attack.
But some believe this were merely some guns going off.
—From Mumbai Metablogs:
The city awake from a night that no one slept and no one will ever forget.The Stock Market will remain closed today.
There are at least 100+ people dead and at least 6 of them are foreigners.
The gunfire attacks continued in the morning with the last one at the Oberoi Hotel about an hour ago.
Residents are being told to stay at home. People have been requested to keep the streets free from traffic etc.
We stayed up all night and watched the news. There were six of us. Someone said, who will you call? And I said we were lucky because so many of the people we cared most were with us. Chandrahas was elsewhere with Nyela, but they were safe. And our friends and family were safe. We were safe.
When dawn broke, we walked down through the empty hotel, front door barred with chains and locks. Outside the street was silent, and I thought I smelt smoke in the air. I thought momentarily of the Bombay floods four years ago when my flight stayed on the tarmac for seven hours, and how I then walked in waist deep water to the Orchid Hotel where they wouldn’t give me water, and hundreds lay on the reception floor like refugees. I reached home the following night, after a half hour’s drive took nine hours.
A friend called, she said they may impose curfew soon, if you can, leave now. We raced through the city, we called the ones we love.
We looked at one another. My pregnant friend said smiled sweetly, she said ‘see you soon. In happier times’.
Her husband. Me. My fiancee. Our married friends. Our dreams. Our future.
This future that we are giving our children, the children of Bombay
–For an example of comprehensive blog reporting see Ultrabrown HERE.
–Another JUST READ: Gauravonomics
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.