You'll actually be stunned how quickly the news is found out in the first place!
Lets not forget the Sky/BBC/Reuters/Indy etc. reporters that are in theatre, sending this stuff back home.
Indeed.
Its always amazed me the restrictions placed upon service personnel in theatre when anything 'dodgy' happen ("so I won't be phoning my wife to let her know it wasn't me blown up today then?") when it seems the in bedded media types just head to the EFI, keep their ears to the ground then send back via sat phone everything they hear. In fact 9 times out of 10 they knew what was happening before we did.
I understand the reasons behind such restrictions but in the time when every other person has a mobile phone that works out there and all the press are running around with all-singing all-dancing sat phones IMO its a bit of a wasted effort really. All it creates is worry in the families of those who can't use a mobile to let them know everything is alright.
Oh, and good effort to the Aussie pilot for bringing the Lynx back safely.