Most of you have probably seen or heard the "viral video" of the British MEP, Daniel Hannan, eviscerating the socialist economic polices of Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the European Parliament. If you did, you probably became aware of the video on either the Web, talk radio shows such as Rush Limbaugh, or on a very few cable TV programs. The reason is that the MSM mostly ignored this scintillating attack upon the disastrous economic effects of socialism as represented by Brown which could well be extended to our own president, Barack Obama.
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.
