As bomb explosions tore through the capital, for the first time television networks used mobile phone images to illustrate the gravity of the attack.

A grainy mobile phone video, taken by one survivor, gave viewers worldwide a glimpse at the London Underground bombing. The image showed passengers standing in the aisle of a carriage, with its windows shattered after a co-ordinated explosion. “It was a clip that we used no more than two, three thousand times,” joked John Moody, the Fox News Channel senior vice president. The video taken by a commuter, was first aired on Britain’s Sky News. Sky found the image using moblog.uk, a free wireless photo, audio and video blog for the mobile community.

Chuck Lustig, ABC News director of foreign news, said that the amateur footage of the blasts was valuable to television networks, as it conveyed a real sense of what was going on.”It took the viewer to an event as the event was happening and that’s always something that’s astonishing.”

NBC News President Neal Shipiro said: “I think you’re looking at a portend of things to come.”