Bloggers enter the lion's den
Today the Daily Politics stages the battle of the bloggers -- on the New Labour left, , on the libertarian right, -- and we do so as the internet buzzes with a compelling example of the power of the internet to re-shape our media and politics.
After Gordon Brown delivered his speech to the European Parliament on Tuesday, he was subjected to a in the Chamber by Tory MEP Daniel Hannan (he appeared on our live-from-Brussels-show last Wednesday) which many thought devastating.
Established broadcasters, while recognising that the Hannan attack was a cut way above normal party political banter, didn't quite see how "Tory MEP savages Brown" made it a story. That was before the bloggers got a hold of it -- they have made it not just a story but a phenomenon.
The right-wing bloggers posted it on their sites and passed it among themselves. Before long it was racking up tens of thousands of hits on YouTube and not longer after that it made the famous Matt Drudge site in America, which gave it far wider trans-Atlantice exposure. No surprise that on Fox News and other sympathetic news outlets. All that has certainly made it a story, even for traditional broadcasters, including the Daily Politics.
Mr Hannan's cheerleaders in the blogosphere are claiming that, with over 300,000 hits already recorded on YouTube, it is on course to be the most viewed political speech in the quickest time in internet history. We'll be discussing that and more this morning.
It is an intriguing development, of which we'll see more as we head for the first ever "broadband" election. Gordon Brown was the target of Mr Hannan's rhetoric and many will think he hit his target hard and effectively; but many Tories will also be wondering quietly why Mr Cameron or Mr Osborne have not mounted such sustained and brilliant attacks. Do they have the ability to do so? No doubt they will be pondering all this as Mr Hannan is hailed as a new Conservative hero on both sides of the Atlantic (and across the Channel too).
This is the shape of things to come. Before the net became a vehicle for video, people depended on pretty much what established media thought they should know. Now they can make up their own minds what's important -- and the established media now has to follow their lead.
I expect this to be an important feature of the next general election campaign. The internet played a minor part in the 2005 election but now its impact could be enormous with the spread of broadband allowing video clips to be distributed in high quality. The political parties and the media will continue to make their judgements about what is important to cover and what issues matter; but the bloggers will also be making theirs and when they tap into opinion the parties or the media have ignored or under covered, they will make news too -- and affect the course of the campaign. I wouldn't be surprised if the parties and pressure groups even start making US-style political commercials in the hope of getting massive hits on YouTube. The general election of 2010 will show just how far the web is changing our politics -- and our media.
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