Your humble correspondent did a Google News search on "Daniel Hannan" this morning and was astonished by the dearth of coverage. In fact, I thought that perhaps Google News might have simply missed some news sources by error so I checked individual news sites of several of the major MSM sources. The result: New York Times...no coverage. Washington Post...zip. Boston Globe...zilch. Miami Herald...nope. Chicago Tribune...nyet. And the Los Angeles Times only had a small blurb linking to a National Review Online story about the video. And if you think CNN, being a cable news outlet, would have had the video or at least a mention of it on its site, you would be wrong. Daniel Hannan himself made a blog post in the UK Telegraph about how his video went viral on the Web despite being ignored by much of the MSM:
The internet has changed politics - changed it utterly and forever. Twenty-four hours ago, I made a three-minute speech in the European Parliament, aimed at Gordon Brown. I tipped off the BBC and some of the newspaper correspondents but, unsurprisingly, they ignored me: I am, after all, simply a backbench MEP.
When I woke up this morning, my phone was clogged with texts, my email inbox with messages. Overnight, the YouTube clip of my remarks had attracted over 36,000 hits. By today, it was the most watched video in Britain.
And on this side of the pond as well, Daniel.
How did it happen, in the absence of any media coverage? The answer is that political reporters no longer get to decide what's news. The days when a minister gave briefings to a dozen lobby correspondents, and thereby dictated the next day's headlines, are over. Now, a thousand bloggers decide for themselves what is interesting. If enough of them are tickled then, bingo, you're news... And jumbo thanks to all the American bloggers: you chaps are way ahead of us in this regard.
Blush! And a jumbo you're welcome for your incredible speech on behalf of the bloggers here in the colonies.
Breaking the press monopoly is one thing. But the internet has also broken the political monopoly. Ten or even five years ago, when the Minister for Widgets put out a press release, the mere fact of his position guaranteed a measure of coverage. Nowadays, a politician must compel attention by virtue of what he is saying, not his position.
It's all a bit unsettling for professional journalists and politicians. But it's good news for libertarians of every stripe. Lefties have always relied on control, as much of information as of physical resources. Such control is no longer technically feasible.
Well stated! However, the left will still try to desperately regain its control of information as we have seen in attempts to resurrect the "Fairness Doctrine" whether by that name or in another form. So what was the reaction to Hannan's article about how the MSM has lost its monopoly? Fortunately, the Web now allows us to read the reaction in the comments posted by readers of Hannan's blog:
At 80,000 hits, it is the most watched video on youtube, not only in britain, but everywhere in the world.
That was yesterday. Today that YouTube video has over 680,000 hits and is still rapidly growing.
I'm proud to say that I played my part in spreading this video to firstly my friends and a student forum of 270,000
Mr. Hannan! I first heard the audio from this speech on the Rush Limbaugh Show here in the States... I couldn't help but applaud!!(While driving I might add ;) Rush commands an audience of 20 Million people a week and 5 million at any given time during his 3 hour show. Your speech has gone beyond viral, my friend... I have no doubt this speech will find its way into America's Conservative Movement, and this should be the clarion call for Republicans here start sounding off like they have a pair! President Teleprompter needs a dressing down just like this!
Hannan's blog had over 270 such comments posted to it but what is really outstanding is that his YouTube video currently has over 4700 comments. Meanwhile the MSM, including many of the dying newspapers that are soon to fold, continues to snore.
—P.J. Gladnick is a freelance writer and creator of the DUmmie FUnnies blog.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
I saw him last night on
March 26, 2009 - 07:36 ET by SeashellI saw him last night on Beck's show. His video is a must see for all Americans. He's a hero in my book. Hopefully our guys will listen up and take note and realize it's OK to speak up against the atrocities The One is planning for our country.
I saw him to on GB also...
March 26, 2009 - 07:54 ET by HeavyChevyexcellent video.
Great vid
March 26, 2009 - 07:53 ET by IgnatzJFahrquarThere's something so eloquent/Shakespearian about the Brits when they make their political arguments. I love the mumblings/rumblings/harumphs in the background.
"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." Mark Twain
Harrumph
March 26, 2009 - 08:41 ET by KC MulvilleThe Brits use Parliament to challenge the chief executive (since the prime minister is still a member of Parliament). In our Constitution, Congress was supposed to hold the president accountable. For any number of reasons, Congress has subcontracted that job to the press. The press now is the organ of government that holds everyone responsible. How do I know this? The press told me so. (Note: I don't agree with them, but Congress seems to.)
We know from the Constitution, Article II, Section 3 that the president is required to give Congress information on the State of the Union. The clause says "from time to time." These days, presidents fulfill that obligation with a political agenda speech, given once a year. In reality, it's just a dress-up day; it's basically an excuse for government to have a formal day and a party.
I would love to change that section. Screw the phony press conferences. No one cares about them anyway, since they've been staged and choreographed just as the State of the Union has. Instead, let's require the president to answer questions from Congress, exactly as the PM has to answer to Parliament. Force the president to respond to direct challenges publicly. Now all they do is send unread letters back and forth, where no one can see them. Make them do it publicly, and frequently - once a month at least.
They won't do it, I know, because we have handlers who are paid big bucks to prevent the president from going off script. Besides, they probably can't write the script into Obama's teleprompter fast enough. But if the Brits can do it, why can't we?
Congress/the president would
March 26, 2009 - 09:46 ET by MANstreammediaCongress/the president would hate this (it's too good of an idea).
In this year's NFL draft the Mr. Irrelevant awards goes to...
March 26, 2009 - 08:15 ET by jdripperthe old line media.
Jack
"If at age 20 you are a conservative then you have no heart. If at age 30 you are a liberal then you have no brains." Sir Winston Churchill
Why does anybody need the old Degenerate MSM?
March 26, 2009 - 08:47 ET by needleWhy does anybody need the old Degenerate MSM?
In any case, it is not dying; it is committing suicide.
Impunitas semper ad deteriora invitat.
Of course the Obama
March 26, 2009 - 09:11 ET by R D HelmOf course the Obama boot-lickers in the propaganda ministry, oops, I mean MSM, are going to ignore Mr. Hannan's delicious rant.
The first time I heard it, the very first name that popped into my head was Barack Hussein Obama.
-Dave
This coup has gone on long enough. The time to put it down is NOW.
Viral Jindal Speech? Where is it?
March 26, 2009 - 09:26 ET by nofateI linked to Hannan's speech yesterday after seeing it on American Thinker because it expressed what millions of us are thinking. It turns out that Bobby Jindal gave a speech to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee the same night as Obama's "Sleepytime Speech". He basically gave cover to the timid US Republican politicians to go out and confront Obama and henchmen. And all I can find is blurbs in blogsites, including CNN. No video.
WHERE IS THE VIDEO of this event??? I have been unable to find it so far. Do the Republicans have a clue??? VIDEO!!!
"The future is not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves."
michaelyon-online.com
I looked also NF
March 27, 2009 - 00:20 ET by general companyI was hoping to find transcripts
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
Hi gc, It's up on YT
March 27, 2009 - 00:24 ET by upcountrywaterBobby Jindal 1/3
P.R.I.N.T. Money 30 sec YT
Thanks,
March 27, 2009 - 00:36 ET by general companyTelevision is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
upcountry
March 27, 2009 - 06:12 ET by nofateThanks. I did a search of youtube but I guess it was a little too early for the Republicans to have it up there. I've got it saved now.
It's too bad it takes a governor who has no say in how our laws, that no one has even read, are made. Those who are intimately involved, just don't seem to have the onions to publicly sound off about what is going on. It's as if they have drunk the Kool-aid. It's people outside the process who are pointing out that the One is fundamentally, purposefully, changing- i.e. destroying, what is left of the constitution.
"The future is not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves."
michaelyon-online.com
The MSM also ignores how
March 26, 2009 - 09:45 ET by MANstreammediaThe MSM also ignores how "awesome" European healthcare is. MSM says "Europe=teh awesome. What is confimation bias???"
Why...despite the
March 26, 2009 - 23:48 ET by JerWhy...despite the criticisms and dissatisfactions, every poll I've seen indicates European healthcare enjoys broader public support in the respective nations than does the current American system with its citizens.
Jer
Wonder why that is Jer?
March 27, 2009 - 00:05 ET by general companyDo you think their care is better? Or is it because the media and Dems have been hammering our system for years and we have never known it to be any other way? Saying the grass is greener doesnt make it so.
I listen to Hannity a little bit on the radio today, he had Mr Hannan on, Mr Hannan when asked by Sean about heath care said, paraphrasing, if your listeners take just one thing from this discussion it is, do not do what we have done with our health care, no system is perfect, but yours is far better then anyone else's. He was very assertive as he was saying this, even suggesting that medical breakthroughs are dependent on the US's health care system.
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
10 surprising facts about American health care
March 27, 2009 - 00:16 ET by upcountrywaterhttp://blog.heritage.org/2009/03/25/10-surprising-facts-about-american-health-care/
"Fact No. 1: Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for
common cancers.
Fact No. 2: Americans have lower cancer mortality
rates than Canadians." Europeans and Canadians have government-run
health care. "
Fact No. 3: Americans have better access to treatment for
chronic diseases than patients in other developed countries.
Fact No.
4: Americans have better access to preventive cancer screening than
Canadians.
Fact No. 5: Lower income Americans are in better health than
comparable Canadians.
"Fact No. 6: Americans spend less time
waiting for care than patients in Canada and the U.K. Canadian and
British patients wait about twice as long -- sometimes more than a year
-- to see a specialist, to have elective surgery like hip replacements
or to get radiation treatment for cancer.
Fact No. 7: People in
countries with more government control of health care are highly
dissatisfied and believe reform is needed.
Fact No. 8: Americans are
more satisfied with the care they receive than Canadians.
Fact No. 9:
Americans have much better access to important new technologies like
medical imaging than patients in Canada or the U.K." Read "MRI" there.
"Fact No. 10: Americans are responsible for the vast majority of all
health care innovations."
P.R.I.N.T. Money 30 sec YT
general company...
March 27, 2009 - 00:37 ET by JerDo you think their care is better? I'm not qualified to make a comparison. I think the US offers excellent care--probably the world's best. My issue is with affordable accessibility.
Jer
I'm waiting
March 26, 2009 - 10:29 ET by Tom in NCFor a conservative to get up on the floor of the House or Senate(or both) and read obama the riot act the way Mr Hannan did, I have my own ideas as to what to say:
Mr President, The American people elected you to this office to take on the problems facing our country, they did not elect you to to make a bad economic situation even worse, they did not elect you to burden each child in this country with a burden of debt of over $36,000 from birth. They did not elect you so you can appear on Jay Leno and ESPN, you are not a Hollywood celebrity, but rather the President of the United States, START ACTING LIKE IT! This country has lost $11Trillion in wealth, it is a national embarassment that the retired need to return to work due solely to the ineptness of your administration. Your Treasury Secretary, Mr Geithner need only to open his mouth to speak and the Stock Market tumbles out of control.
The American people elected you to keep our country safe, in your campaign to get elected you stated that we need to talk with countries like Iran and North Korea and get them to drop their agressive postures. well while you talk they build, build up their nuclear capabilities, threaten their neighbors, our allies with annihilation. How long will it be before Iran launches a nuke on Israel or North Korea launches one on South Korea or Japan, IT WILL THEN BE TOO LATE FOR TALK, MR PRESIDENT!
The American people need an adminisration that leads, follows the Constitution, and provides defense to keep us safe. So far we have had an adminstration that has spent us into a deeper recession, spit on the Constitution, cut our defense budget. Restructuring mortgage loans so that people that should never have got the loans in the first place can make the payments while the taxpayer takes up the slack is not my idea of leadership, it is an example of catering to the irresponsible while putting even more of a burden on the responsible, hard working members of our society.
Mr President, a lot of people voted for you and they expect results, during the campaign you TALKED THE TALK, now we expect you to WALK THE WALK, so far we have gotten lip service, a tidal wave of spending and higher taxes, infringement on our freedoms and more lip service.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE SICK OF YOUR LIP SERVICE, MR PRESIDENT, SICK OF YOUR SOCIALIST AGENDA, AND SICK OF YOUR OUT OF CONTROL SPENDING. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE NOT PREPARED TO STAND IDLY BY WHILE YOU BANKRUPT OURS AND OUR CHILDRENS FUTURE!!!
YOUR INEPT ADMINISTRATION IS LEADING US DOWN A DARK AND DUSTY ROAD TO FAILURE AND DESTRUCTION, ECONOMICALLY, MORALLY AND DEFENSIVELY!
Spot On. Tom, would love
March 26, 2009 - 11:45 ET by Scuba DudeSpot On.
Tom, would love to see a congress critter or two stand up and say this to Bambi.
Hell, we should print it out and MAIL it to the Whit House!!!!
"The wrOng ONE was elected"
The best part was Brown was present
March 26, 2009 - 23:46 ET by general companyKnow way Obama will be present for one of those lashings.
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
Brilliant
March 26, 2009 - 10:52 ET by PewahEven though I disagreed with most of Tony Blair's politics, I absolutely loved listening to him orate (w/o a teleprompter!) in Parliment. Now I can have my cake and eat it too with Mr. Hannan...a conservative! Did anyone else notice that his speech wasn't filled with "um's", "uh's", or "ya know's"?! He was brilliant.
Come to think of it...
March 26, 2009 - 11:15 ET by dborschjr68Pewah, you are correct. He didn't pause, stutter, fumble about, or speak with trepidation!
He was brilliant, indeed.
======================
Brace yourself
For the backlash
Of your ignorance.
yes
March 26, 2009 - 11:40 ET by katainkentsuccinct - exactly on point - barely glanced at his notes.
_____________________________________________________
Obama does not perform as advertised. I'd like a refund.
Taxed Enough Already.
Mr. Hannan...
March 26, 2009 - 11:13 ET by dborschjr68If you ever decide to visit the States in the near future, you can always crash at my place. My wife and I will keep a room open, just for you.
And a healthy poo on the BBC and other leftist media outlets in the UK for not giving you the attention you so richly deserve.
You rock.
======================
Brace yourself
For the backlash
Of your ignorance.
We already import good
March 26, 2009 - 11:21 ET by MANstreammediaWe already import good beers; we should import good politicians. Old Europe is a lost cause anyways. We should import this guy (and maybe some Czech politicians- actual capitalists) to actually lead the Republican party.
PS: NB and the other conservative sites should sticky this video on the top of their pages.
Lets not get carried away
March 26, 2009 - 23:42 ET by general companyWe already import good beers; we should import good politicians.
Let stick to the beer, the Kenyan we have for CiC isnt doing us much good. And the UK has as many problems as we do.
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
Fantastic!
March 26, 2009 - 12:45 ET by MaximusBraveheartI love it! He was fantastic! The truth must be told!!!
M-B
Mr Hannan
March 26, 2009 - 23:18 ET by BurnsideI am a Londoner living in Austin, TX and I hope that your speech inspires someone in this country to get up and eviscerate the current president the way you did to Gordon Brown who is, at best, a slug.
The fact that America has heard this I hope makes a difference. It has made me feel that things are not so hopeless.
Rectum? Damn near killed him!
March 27, 2009 - 04:36 ET by JWFNo. That ain't right.
Seen it? Hell, I forwarded it to my congressman!
That's it.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.