BBC Censors Hannan
Posted on March 26th, 2009
by Freddy Gray |
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The video of Dan Hannan verbally assaulting Gordon Brown at the European Parliament is still whistling around the Internet. Indeed, the clip is currently one of YouTube’s most popular posts (more than 700, 000 viewings in just over a day). And Fox News has even described Hannan, a Member of the European Parliament and a conservative journalist, as a possible future prime minister.
Not everyone admires Hannan, though, or agrees with him. Over on Eunomia, Daniel describes him as a “bit of a loon” for his views on Israel. Surely, though, nobody would deny that such a passionate, gloriously eloquent, and delightfully public attack on Brown was newsworthy? It has to be mass-media gold, hasn’t it?
Think again. The BBC completely ignored Hannan’s speech. Instead, Mark Mardell, the corporation’s European Editor, chose to show a clip of a German socialist paying Brown a compliment. Astonishing.
Mardell, after receiving a barrage of complaints, put up this rather testy post to explain his omission. He insists that he did not see Hannan’s speech. Fair enough, though his excuses for not later blogging about the story–and his reasons why the Beeb failed to mention it in other reports–are confusing and feeble to say the least.
Of course he couldn’t just admit that his organization is reflexively pro-EU, left-leaning, and hostile to right-wing views. The good news, however, as Hannan points out today, is that political editors and PR men can’t decide what makes the news anymore:
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.
Freddy, it’s not just his views on Israel but his entire idea of “Roundhead conservatism” that prompted me to describe him that way. The quote about Israel was just a sample.
However, I agree that his evisceration of Brown was masterful and would certainly should have received extensive coverage in all kinds of media. Had it come during PM’s Questions and had it come from the leader of the opposition, it might have gotten as much play as Cameron’s similar devastating critique of Brown back in ‘07 received. Perhaps there is enough of a siege mentality now because of the economic mess that mainstream media outlets are trying to shut down or ignore vociferous criticism of the government?
Noted Daniel, apologies. Your “siege mentality” idea probably has something to it. Certainly, the Beeb seems to have lost enthusiasm for Cameron since the economic crisis kicked in.
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