Sangat TV
Sometimes it takes a scruffy underdog to show the professionals what's what. During the London riots, it was tiny Birmingham broadcaster Sangat TV that trumped the BBC and CNN with its riveting footage and quirky commentary. Who's running this superlative operation? Two Sikh men with a point-and-shoot camera. While mainstream broadcasters often offered little more than aerial helicopter shots, the Sangat team was part of the action, literally. On Tuesday night, while filming the police pursue rioters in Birmingham, they realized the police were losing the race. "Do you need a lift?" Sangat presenter Upinder Randhawa, 31, shouted to the officers. "We'll give you a lift. Get in the car." In the following 20 seconds of astonishing footage, the Sangat car careens after the rioters and drops the police off in time to make four arrests. "Another live Sangat TV exclusive," crows Randhawa. Thousands in the Twittersphere, who made Sangat a worldwide trending topic, are hoping there will be many more.