Vietnam was the first televised war. Film from the morning was flown one-stop to California allowing Americans to witness action within 24 hours of its occurrence.
The Gulf War upped the ante with live, streaming video, 24 hours a day on CNN.
September 11 and the liberation of Iraq came with live blogging from people feet from the action.
But reading text messages on Twitter from people on the streets of Mumbai as events unfold is truly bizarre. The interaction between people in Mississippi and citizen journalists on the streets of Mumbai provides a level of personalization unimaginable only 3 years ago.
Look at this, all from within the last 60 seconds:
Realtime results for #mumbai #
6 more results since you started searching.Refresh to see them.
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thecomicproject: #mumbai - @himandi: That was so necessary wasn’t it? Where do you idiots come from?
less than 20 seconds ago * Reply * View Tweet
Mumbai: #mumbai Nariman House home of Jewish organization known as Chabad. A rabbi and his wife said to be hostage inside to terrorists.
less than 20 seconds ago * Reply * View Tweet
sujeet: The IBN Live video feed is like watching a movie. Fingers crossed
half a minute ago * Reply * View Tweet
shonali: Comic relief, my American husband is practising saying “aamchi #mumbai” LOL
half a minute ago * Reply * View Tweet
maddiekp: commandos plant at positions on rooftops and surrounding buildings ibnlive #mumbai
less than a minute ago * Reply * View Tweet
shloky: #mumbai Important to note that this is is a full daylight raid. Rare in this business.
less than a minute ago * Reply * View Tweet
HappiestIdiot: following live updates on #Mumbai
less than a minute ago * Reply * View Tweet
sujeet: Rs. 50,000 worth of groceries? That means they were settling in for a while… #Mumbai
1 minute ago * Reply * View Tweet
Remarkable is all I can say.
If you need live video, click here.
Continuous updates on HotAir.com
More continuous news on NYTimes.com
UPDATE: ND&P Blog reports on a CNN report on Twitter’s impact.
There are reports on Twitter that terrorists are waving white flag, but Indian commandos (NSG) fighting on. Fight on, brave soldiers, fight on. Give no quarters. Take no prisoners.
A new website dedicated to reporting on the events [click]. Hat tip drishtikone.
Fresh photos on Flicker.