|
Banned
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by shakran
First off, the planted stooge wasn't a member of the press. That's entirely the administration's fault. The media is blameless there. In fact, the media exposed him for what he was.......
|
shakran, I have to offer a contradictory opinion that respectfully but firmly calls into question your comments quoted above. Not only was the elite white house press corps "mum" about Gannon, before he was exposed, but Froomkin reported (below), that Gannon's exposure was largely due to the efforts of mediamatters.org founder, David Brock. The in-depth, followup reporting that revealed the unusual access to the white house that Guckert AKA Gannon enjoyed, was dominated by rawstory.com.
Here is a highlight of Froomkin's assessment of how the WH press corps allowed the Bush administration to further erode the remnants of integrity that it still enjoyed after the press corps silently excepted the disgraceful treatment that ranking correspondent Helen Thomas received by the white house. Even after it was obvious that Gannon was a planted shill, the press corps did not lead or even do a thorough job of reporting important details.
We seem to be in the midst of an curious era where the most prominent reporters and their employers choose "not to report",,,,,,Miller...Woodward....Cooper....and now the NY Times delaying an important story for a year, and still not explaining why!
Quote:
|
Members of the press corps individually confronted Gannon and told him that he didn't belong there. But nothing more serious than that happened -- until Bush called on him at his televised Jan. 26 news conference....
|
Quote:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2005Feb10.html
<b>Scandal in the Press Corps</b>
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com Thursday, February 10, 2005; 12:44 PM
The rise and fall of "Jeff Gannon," the pseudononymous conservative partisan who bragged of working "behind enemy lines" in the White House press corps, is turning into the media scandal of the week.
But what, precisely, is the scandal? That depends on who you listen to......
.....<b>The Facts of the Case</b>
It's worth calling attention to the things we think we know for sure.
Gannon -- I'm going to call him that for now, since I'm used to it -- worked for a Web site called Talon News, and his writings appeared on that site as well one called GOPUSA.com, both of which were operated by Texas Republican activist Bobby Eberle. On his personal Web page, Gannon had a section called "Behind Enemy Lines: Stories from Inside the White House Briefing Room."
Pretty much every day, Gannon got cleared into the White House briefing room by a press office that knew his real name. Press Secretary Scott McClellan frequently called on him during the mid-day briefings, using his fake name. McClellan was consistently rewarded with questions that -- in stark contrast from most of what passes for questions in that room -- were more expressions of conservative dogma than actual attempts to elicit information. Members of the press corps individually confronted Gannon and told him that he didn't belong there. But nothing more serious than that happened -- until Bush called on him at his televised Jan. 26 news conference and he asked a loaded, inaccurate question partly derived from a Rush Limbaugh joke.
In the ensuing days, liberal Web sites and an army of bloggers determined his real name, called attention to his lack of journalistic credentials, found a link to gay porn Web sites, pointed out how that ran afoul of his "family values" positions, and apparently hounded him into resigning.
<b>The News Coverage</b>
Howard Kurtz writes in The Washington Post: "The conservative reporter who asked President Bush a loaded question at a news conference last month resigned yesterday after liberal bloggers uncovered his real name and raised questions about his background.
"Jeff Gannon, who had been writing for the Web sites Talon News and GOPUSA, is actually James Dale Guckert, 47, and has been linked to online domain addresses with sexually provocative names. . . .
"Gannon's resignation highlights the no-holds-barred atmosphere of the Web, which both enabled him to function as a reporter -- his stories appeared on a site founded by Texas Republican activist Bobby Eberle -- and produced a swarm of critics determined to expose him. . . .
"Glenn Reynolds, a University of Tennessee law professor who writes on InstaPundit.com, said the tactics used against Gannon "seem to me to be despicable.' "
Alan Wirzbicki and Charlie Savage write in the Boston Globe: "Gannon came under scrutiny after Bush called on him during a rare and nationally televised news conference two weeks ago. Gannon's question attacked Democrats as having 'divorced themselves from reality' and repeated an allegation against Senate minority leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, that turned out to be a joke by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.
"The unusual question prompted a wave of attention initially <b>led by David Brock, the former right-wing investigative journalist who now operates a left-wing media watchdog group, Media Matters for America.".......</b>
|
Quote:
http://rawstory.com/exclusives/byrne...gannon_424.htm
Secret Service records raise new questions about discredited conservative reporter
By John Byrne| RAW STORY Editor
Advertisement
Updated: Day discovered with two check-ins but no check outs; Other events found on some days without press briefings
READ THE DOCUMENTS
In what is unlikely to stem the controversy surrounding disgraced White House correspondent James Guckert, the Secret Service has furnished logs of the writer’s access to the White House after requests by two Democratic congressmembers.
The documents, obtained by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) through a Freedom of Information Act request, reveal Guckert had remarkable access to the White House. Though he wrote under the name Jeff Gannon, the records show that he applied with his real name.
Gannon’s ready access to President Bush and his work for a news agency that frequently plagiarized content from other reporters and tailored it to serve a conservative message may raise new questions about the White House’s attempts to seed favorable news coverage. Democrats have sought to paint Guckert in the context of other efforts by the Administration to “plant” positive spin by paying for video news releases and columnists to espouse their views.
Guckert made more than 200 appearances at the White House during his two-year tenure with the fledging conservative websites GOPUSA and Talon News, attending 155 of 196 White House press briefings. He had little to no previous journalism experience, previously worked as a male escort, and was refused a congressional press pass.
Perhaps more notable than the frequency of his attendance, however, is several distinct anomalies about his visits.
Guckert made more than two dozen excursions to the White House when there were no scheduled briefings. On many of these days, the Press Office held press gaggles aboard Air Force One—which raises questions about what Guckert was doing at the White House. On other days, the president held photo opportunities.
On at least fourteen occasions, Secret Service records show either the entry or exit time missing. Generally, the existing entry or exit times correlate with press conferences; on most of these days, the records show that Guckert checked in but was never processed out.
In March, 2003, Guckert left the White House twice on days he had never checked in with the Secret Service. Over the next 22 months, Guckert failed to check out with the Service on fourteen days. On several of these visits, Guckert either entered or exited by a different entry/exit point than his usual one. On one of these days, no briefing was held; on another, he checked in twice but failed to check out.
“I’d be worried if I was the White House and I knew that a reporter with a day pass never left,” one White House reporter told RAW STORY. “I’d wonder, where is he hiding? It seems like a security risk.”
Others who have covered the White House say not checking in or out with the Secret Service is unusual, especially in the wake of Sept. 11. The Secret Service declined to comment.
“We responded to the FOIA request and can provide no further information,” Service spokesman Jonathan Cherry said.......
http://rawstory.com/exclusives/byrne...gannon_425.htm
Secret Service responds to Dems' questions on Gannon access to White House
By John Byrne| RAW STORY Editor
READ THE FULL DOCUMENTS
Advertisement
The following includes three pages of responses from the Secret Service to Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI). The responses were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Gannon’s ready access to President Bush and his work for a news agency that frequently plagiarized content from other reporters and tailored it to serve a conservative message may raise new questions about the White House’s attempts to seed favorable news coverage. Democrats have sought to paint Guckert in the context of other efforts by the Administration to “plant” positive spin by paying for video news releases and columnists to espouse their views.
Guckert made more than 200 appearances at the White House during his two-year tenure with the fledging conservative websites GOPUSA and Talon News, attending 155 of 196 White House press briefings. He had little to no previous journalism experience, previously worked as a male escort, and <b>was refused a congressional press pass.........</b>
|
|