"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"
- Daniel Hannan
About this Quote
In this quote, Daniel Hannan is highlighting the altering landscape of news reporting in the political world. He argues that standard political reporters no longer hold the power to identify what is considered relevant. In the past, a small group of lobby reporters would get rundowns from government officials and their reporting would shape the headlines for the next day. Nevertheless, with the rise of blogging and social media, Hannan suggests that the power has actually shifted to a bigger and more diverse group of people who can decide for themselves what they discover intriguing. This has actually resulted in a more democratic and decentralized technique to news reporting, where a story can get traction and become newsworthy merely by capturing the attention of a large number of blog writers.
"I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office"