Perpetually in turmoil

BBC broadcast and online coverage unraveled a lengthy and deteriorating picture of the events in Mumbai.

The wave of attacks on seven well-known locations in Mumbai's cosmopolitan area looked like an orchestrated and formidable mess.

The terrorists who are now believed to be from Pakistan, disembarked inflatable boats onto Mumbai shores at nine o'clock Wednesday morning.

Their first port-of-call was a Jewish centre where a group of eight people were held hostage. This was followed by attacks on a series of popular expat locations, then two leading hotels at 9:45pm, including the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel (below), where hostages were held on the upper floor.

After a wave of attacks by open fire and explosion, including the Cama Hospital at 10:15pm and fifteen minutes later at the crowded Chattrapati Shivaji railway station (above), the terror continued into the next day with military rescuring hostages and overall enforcing damage control as seemingly best they could.

At least 130 people have been confirmed dead and over 370 injured - Indians, Italians, Australians, Germans and British are among those killed.


Photos from BBC.co.uk

Journalism at the WSJ is as good as it was pre-Murdoch, says McIntosh

Neil McIntosh brushed aside claims yesterday that Murdoch’s acquisition of the Wall Street Journal has been detrimental to its journalistic integrity, saying that “It was extremely good before the takeover and it’s extremely good now.”

In the year since Murdoch won his $5 billion bid for the WSJ there has been great skepticism that the acquisition has affected it’s reputation of high quality journalism.

Yet at the University of Westminster lecture he praised the WSJ owner, “It’s a time of expansion and ambition and NewsCorp taking over has sparked a lot of that.”

McIntosh is transferring from his editorial position at the historically anti-Murdoch newspaper, The Guardian, to become head of the Wall Street Journals online sector in Europe.

He remained positive that the WSJ’s media-mogul owner does not have any effect and that his renowned right-winged views will not impact the new site.

He admitted there has been a “mix of opinions” on the Internet, but that he had not spoken to anyone at the WSJ personally who has said “bad things”.

On the other hand, the most senior editor of the WSJ resigned four months after the acquisition, amid hearsay of conflicts between the newly positioned pro-Murdoch editor, Robert Thompson.

But Neil McIntosh remained positive and said the new site will be experimenting with new online technology and innovative web-design.

In the face of recession, he also spoke of declining newspaper sales and painted a grim future for regional newspapers.

However, it wasn’t all bad news, he reminded students that the opportunities for online journalism are ever-expanding and his new project at the WSJ will be opening up room for plenty of employment soon.