put in place for both access and display of visuals that could have inflamed passions. They broadcast information released in regular briefings by police, intelligence and administrative officials. In crisis situations, a few things happen immediately. A perimeter is set up by first responders, usually local law enforcement, a crisis group convenes to stay in touch with families, and control rooms are created where officials deployed to ensure authoritative, credible and clear information give systematic, periodic briefings to the media, a critical player in any national emergency.

None of this happened during the siege of Mumbai. Instead, reporters and camerapersons tried to get as close to the sites as possible, some even stood alongside National Security Guards chief J.K. Dutt as he directed operations.

Also read: India Learned Valuable Lessonsfrom 26/11. But So Have Terrorists Across the Border.

As a result, some reporters, themselves in an unprecedented environment, ended up reporting operational details, like those of fires being lit inside the hotels under attack, in an attempt to literally smoke out the terrorists. Without appropriate systems and channels of information in place, journalists went by what they saw, what was visible to the naked eye, some of them, breathlessly. It was through news television that terrorists realised fires had been lit and that helicopters were trying to land on the roofs of the Oberoi Hotel and the Jewish Chabad House with an American rabbi and his family being held inside.

Was it poor judgement on the part of journalists to release this information? With the benefit of hindsight, the