The British media have come under fire for their coverage of conservative MEP Daniel Hannan's attack on Gordon Brown during the prime minister's speech to the European parliament.
During the question session following Brown's speech Hannan took the opportunity to lambast him as a "devalued prime minister of a devalued government," in a blistering speech, a fact that seemed to have been ignored by news services at the BBC and ITV.
He also questioned Brown's authority to offer financial recommendations saying, "Perhaps you would have more legitimacy in the councils of the world if the United Kingdom were not going into this recession in the worst condition of any G20 country?"
Although this received almost no coverage on British networks, his comments were picked up by America's Fox news, which also gave him a long interview, while the speech was also discussed by influential political bloggers worldwide.
In the wake of the online hubbub theYouTube clip of the speech has become something of an internet sensation, with around 1.2 million views since Tuesday.
British media outlets have been slow on the uptake of the story say critics, with many choosing to frame their coverage from the angle of the power of the internet rather than a serious political story, to the dismay of conservative news sources and MPs.
Meanwhile, both the BBC and ITV News defended the decision not to include the speech in their original coverage of Brown's visit saying that they were concentrating on the governor of the Bank of England's warning about the level of Britain's debt.
Jonathan Munro, acting editor of ITV News, is quoted in a British newspaper as saying, "We took an editorial decision on the day of Daniel Hannan's comments to focus on the macro political story that would most impact the UK economy, and therefore our viewers."
Mr Hannan commented in his blog with the Daily Telegraph that the story's development proved, "how utterly and irretrievably the internet has changed politics. In 24 hours, 380,000 people had watched a video before a word appeared on the BBC or in any newspaper."
Downing Street is reported to be offering no comment on the story.
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