Double dipping

(Quick political update, it looks like Stephane Dion is going to be Prime Minister at some point in the very near future. Consult the usual websites for more information.)

I'm starting to understand the concept of anxiety - the idea that there's too much going on for any one person to completely grasp it, and a feeling of a sort of helplessness that arises from that.

But one thing has really struck me, and it's the one event that's contributing to everyone's anxiety - Mumbai.

As we understand it now, a group of terrorists with a questionable or unknown background invaded two high-end hotels in the Indian city, held some people in the hotels hostage (whether they were officially classified hostages or not is irrelevant - if you're barracading yourself in your hotel room and won't leave until the invaders do, you're a hostage), and despite the best efforts of Indian forces, the siege continues with over 150 known dead at this time.

What I can't figure out is how it took us this long to know this much. The attacks began Wednesday night Indian time (I'm assuming Wednesday morning our time), and yet by late afternoon Wednesday, no Western news outlets seemed to know more than that there was a terrorist attack in India, and it involved hotels. It wasn't until Thursday morning that the picture began to be filled in, and Thursday night by the time most people were caught up with the situation so far.

This was a similar timeframe to 1989, when something else happened halfway around the world - the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing. (Interesting to note from the introduction, it seems to have been similar to today in that there's simply a lot going on.)

Back then, we didn't have the technology we do today - Tom Kennedy had to file his report, wait for open time on a satellite feed, and send it to CBC by satellite. This was made even harder by the Chinese government's decision to close all in-country satellite feeds and not allow any pictures or video to leave the country.

Yet we still got the news in roughly the same timeframe it took for the story of the Mumbai massacre to be fully understood in Canada.

How is it that one man can be stabbed on a bus in backwoods Manitoba, and the entire world be aware of it within a few hours, yet when hundreds of people - mostly tourists and thus Westerners at that - are held captive by terrorists in a major city, it takes us far longer to figure it out?

--Ryan