Networks air amateur video

The New York Times:

The massive scope of the disaster touched on more than six different countries, many of which have the kind of technological infrastructure that allowed vivid imagery to be transmitted before the dimensions of the disaster were actually known.

Video compression technology, fed by digital cameras and enabled by satellite and videophones, along with laptops with uplink capabilities, meant that people all over the world saw the deadly aftermath of the earthquake just hours after it ended. And by yesterday morning, real-time video footage of the tidal wave striking the shores, much of it taken by tourists on or near the beaches in Thailand began showing up on network broadcasts.