a fake reporter in the white house press corps?

[wookalar]

this stinks....

Rep. Slaughter Calls on President Bush to Explain Emerging White House Briefing Room Scandal


Washington, DC - Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (NY-28), long time champion of media reform and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Rules, sent a letter to President George W. Bush today asking him to explain how discredited "reporter" Jeff Gannon was credentialed as a member of the legitimate media by the White House.



The letter follows:

Wednesday, February 9, 2005




The Honorable George W. Bush

President of the United States

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC 20500



Dear Mr. President:



In light of the mounting evidence that your Administration has, on several occasions, paid members of the media to advocate in favor of Administration policies, I feel compelled to ask you to address a matter brought to my attention by the Niagara Falls Reporter (article attached), a local newspaper in my district, regarding James "JD" Guckert (AKA Jeff Gannon) of Talon News.

According to several credible reports, "Mr. Gannon" has been repeatedly credentialed as a member of the White House press corps by your office and has been regularly called upon in White House press briefings by your Press Secretary Scott McClellan, despite the fact evidence shows that "Mr. Gannon" is a Republican political operative, uses a false name, has phony or questionable journalistic credentials, is known for plagiarizing much of the "news" he reports, and according to several web reports, may have ties to the promotion of the prostitution of military personnel.

Several weeks ago when it was revealed that radio/TV host Armstrong Williams had received payment from your Administration in exchange for his vocal support of the 'No Child Left Behind' initiative, I was stunned. For years now I have been leading the fight in Congress for fairness and accountability in the media; the Williams revelation only underscored the need for a media that has integrity, is balanced and expresses the local interests and concerns of its consumers.

Since that time, two more members of the media have been found to have received money from your Administration in exchange for their vocal, yet undisclosed support of Administration policies.

And just this morning we have learned that "Mr. Gannon" has resigned his post at the, so called, Talon News amid growing concerns over his controversial background and falsified qualifications. In fact, it appears that "Mr. Gannon's" presence in the White House press corps was merely as a tool of propaganda for your Administration.

Mr. President, I am sure we both agree the White House Press Corps is an honored institution in America that should be beyond the scope of partisan meddling, and that a free and independent media is the cornerstone of our success as a democracy. Likewise, I am sure we can both agree the American people have the right to expect that journalists who question their President everyday are experienced, independent, and perhaps most importantly, unbiased in their approach.

I was already concerned about what appears to be an organized campaign to mask partisan propaganda as legitimate news by your Administration. That we have now learned this same type of deception is occurring inside the White House briefing room itself is even more disturbing.

That is why I am asking you to please explain to the Congress and to the American people how and why the individual known as "Mr. Gannon" was repeatedly cleared by your staff to join the legitimate White House press corps?

Mr. President, your Administration has driven the so-called "values" debate in this country. But the most important value for those of us in public service should always be honesty and integrity, particularly when considering the manner in which we conduct our affairs of state.

I would appreciate your prompt response on this matter.



Respectfully,


/LMS



Louise M. Slaughter

Ranking Member, House Committee on Rules







From the Niagara Falls Reporter on Monday, February 7, 2005

AN OPEN LETTER TO LOUISE SLAUGHTER
Dear Rep. Slaughter,

As a small newspaper located in your district, we are asking for your help. It has come to our attention that an individual who calls himself "Jeff Gannon" has been credentialed by the White House to attend press briefings and presidential news conferences.

He is affiliated with an organization called Talon News, and is frequently called on by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan and President Bush. This individual has no background in journalism whatsoever, and his "syndicated column" appears solely on his personal Web site, www.jeffgannon.com. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, "Jeff Gannon" isn't even his real name.

In his biography at the Talon News site, where he holds the title of "Washington Bureau Chief," he claims to be a graduate of the "Pennsylvania State University System" and the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism.

While the 23 schools in the Penn State system award diplomas, the system itself does not, and the Daily News investigation has thus far failed to turn up a "Jeff Gannon" who holds a degree in education from Penn State, as this person claims he does. Furthermore, the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism is a right-wing diploma mill where anyone with $50 and two days to waste can receive a degree.

As for Talon News itself, it seems to consist solely of a Web site that links directly to a Republican site called www.gopusa.com. Both Talon and GOPUSA have the same mailing address, a private residence in Texas. It isn't clear whether anyone at Talon News is paid, as one portion of its site asks, "Want to join the Talon News team? Click here to find out more about being a volunteer reporter for Talon News."

Looking at the staff biography section of the site, none of the 10 individuals listed appear to have any training or previous experience in journalism, although all list credentials as Republican activists.

We respectfully ask your office to look into how a partisan political organization and an individual with no credentials as a reporter -- and apparently operating under an assumed name -- landed a coveted spot in the White House press corps.

Sincerely,

Bruce Battaglia, publisher, Mike Hudson, editor in chief, Rebecca Day, senior editor, David Staba, sports editor, Bill Gallagher, national correspondent, John Hanchette, senior correspondent, Frank Thomas Croisdale, contributing editor, Bill Bradberry, contributing editor, Niagara Falls Reporter.

http://www.slaughter.house.gov/HoR/Louise/News/Press+Releases+By+Date/2005+Press+Releases/WH+Briefing+Room+Scandal.htm

thoughts?

[The AD]

What else is there to say? The similarity between some of the Bush Administration's tactics and the propaganda machines of several notorious totalitarian regimes are scary to say the least.

[Tippster]

Damn. They found me out...

[backpack]

thought: not surprised, unethical... but I'm getting desensitized to this sort of media manipulation, which is the scary thing

[Spats]

It's way, way better than that!

"Jeff Gannon" (his real name is JD Guckert) is not just a paid shill, he's a gay pimp who runs gay military porn websites! I absolutely cannot make this stuff up!

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/02/holy-crap_08.html

From the article:
"Mr. Gannon's home page is JeffGannon.com. Well, JeffGannon.com is owned by a person and company that owns the following Web addresses as well:

Hotmilitarystud.com
Militaryescorts.com
Militaryescortsm4m.com"

Also check out the link to his AOL website on that page. Hot-cha!

And if any Republicans want to disparage the bloggers who figured this out, I note for the record that he has just resigned.

Ha! HA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The Bush administration leaks memos and gives full journalistic credentials to a GAY PIMP? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

What are the odds that any mainstream media will pick this up? This is way cooler than any dirt they dug on Clinton...could it be that the news media is entirely controlled by Republicans? Hell yes! Anyone who complains about "liberal bias" in the news can just shut the hell up now. Thank you.

[wookalar]

wow! and I thought my post was scorching!


bravo sir...bravo!!

[extreeski]

Bush is an asshole. Karl Rove is his butt daddy.

[EstoBum]

What else is there to say? The similarity between some of the Bush Administration's tactics and the propaganda machines of several notorious totalitarian regimes are scary to say the least.

My grandmother has brought this point up before in political conversations we've had, and she was in europe in the middle of things during WWII. The current administration brings up a lot of similarities of what is said compared to the german political machine, as she says.

[mr_gyptian]

I thought you were going to link to a picture of Helen Thomas' corpse.

seriously do you guys think the practice of government organizations utilizing the press to forward policy is a first under the Bush Administration?

"We're hearing that question again, in response to stories that the federal government paid talk-show host Armstrong Williams to back its education policy by supporting the No Child Left Behind Act. Armstrong shouldn't have done that, and he's been justly condemned by many.



On the other hand, he was hardly the first to do that sort of thing. As the same story reports,



"But public relations executives said that the government distribution of prepared news segments without on-air disclosures of their origin was a bipartisan practice that predated the Bush administration.



"'The Clinton administration was probably even more active than the Bush administration" in distributing news segments promoting its policies,' said Laurence Moskowitz, chairman and chief executive of Medialink, a major producer of promotional news segments."



And it didn't start there. Selling the expanded Income Tax back during the 1940s was a top priority with the Roosevelt Administration, and those efforts featured lots of government-funded propaganda, as this article from the Cato Institute's journal recounts:

http://www.techcentralstation.com/011005G.html

Did your grandma mention the Roosevelt Administration's utilization of propaganda reminded her of her time in Europe?

[snow_slider]

Did any of those suportees fund gay military web sites for an administration sold itself as anti-gay?

Yeah, didn't think so....

[backpack]

blahblahblah similar things have probably been done before so it must be ok! everything bad bush does now bill clinton did already because bill is satan! blahblahblah oh, and esto's grandma sucks

[grrrr]

Mr. G, please come up with a better rebuttal than "yeah, but other people are crooks, too".

When someone acts unethically, it is an unethical act. The fact that others have done the same or similar unethical act does not make it less so.

[Lane Meyer]

Funny there are no articles on this at CNN.com from the "liberal-controlled media..."

Giving "Gannon" a pass
Questions remain about how a fake reporter working for a fake news operation got White House press credentials without a background check.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Eric Boehlert



Feb. 11, 2005 | Before abruptly quitting his post this week as White House correspondent for the GOP-friendly group Talon News, Jeff Gannon enjoyed unfettered access to White House briefings. He gained that access not by going through the normal full background check most journalists face when obtaining a "hard pass," the ultimate White House credential, but rather by getting day passes, which require only an abbreviated background check. According to one current member of the White House press corps, Gannon was the only reporter to skirt the rules that way, obtaining daily passes month after month for nearly two years.

"Why did the White House circumvent the process for him?" asks the White House reporter.


That's just one of several questions that continue to swirl around the man who covered the White House under the pseudonym Jeff Gannon -- his real name is James Guckert -- and his abrupt departure from Talon News. After Guckert piqued interest in the blogosphere with an overly obvious softball question to President Bush at the Jan. 26 press conference, online sleuths uncovered the truth about Talon's close working ties with Republican operatives and their GOPUSA Web site as well as past identity. Faced with allegations that he was tied to gay-themed Web sites, Guckert resigned his Talon position Tuesday night. (Talon has posted scores of anti-gay articles.) Still left unanswered, though, is how a partisan novice reporter working for a fake news organization was able to gain regular access to White House briefings.

Hard passes to the White House are designed to give journalists who regularly cover the White House easy access: They simply swipe their credentials at the entrance while the Secret Service checks their bags. Day passes, which are picked up every day at the press office, are intended to provide flexibility for out-of-town journalists who might need to cover the White House for a day or two, or to allow White House reporters to bring in visitors who want to see the press briefings. But the current day-pass system was not set up to give permanent access to reporters who, like Guckert, fail to qualify for a hard pass.

The White House press office continues to be non-responsive to Salon's questions about the credentialing process and Guckert's apparent ability to rig the system. At Thursday's daily press briefing, White House press secretary Scott McClellan fielded several questions on the issue. He told reporters that Guckert had "never applied for a hard pass. He had a daily pass." Guckert's ineligibility for a hard pass -- the likely reason he never applied -- was left unmentioned.

To receive a hard pass, a journalist must submit a letter confirming that he or she works for a legitimate news organization, lives in the D.C. area, and needs access to the White House for regular news stories. But before the White House will send the request along to the Secret Service for a background check, the journalist must also confirm having received accreditation to cover Capitol Hill. Without Hill credentials, the White House will not forward a hard-pass application. Gannon had no such credentials.

But not because he didn't try to get them. On Dec. 12, 2003, Guckert applied to the Standing Committee of Correspondents, a group of congressional reporters who oversee press-credential distribution on Capitol Hill. On April 7, 2004, his application was rejected when the committee could not conclude that Talon was a legitimate, independent news organization. "We didn't recognize the publication, so we asked for information about what Talon was," Julie Davis, a reporter for the Baltimore Sun who is on the committee, previously told Salon. "We did some digging, and it became clear it was owned by the owner of GOPUSA. And we had asked for some proof of Talon's editorial independence from that group ... They didn't provide anything, so we denied their credentials, which is pretty rare," she said.

It's curious that the White House seemed disinclined to hold the Republican-leaning Talon News -- whose "news team" is made up of political activists with no journalism experience whatsoever -- to the same standards as the committee's. On Wednesday, McClellan insisted that all Guckert had to do to gain entrance to the White House was show "that he was representing a news organization that published regularly."

Still, without any hope of Hill credentials, Guckert had no prospect of landing a White House hard pass, so he simply adopted the day-pass system and turned it into his personal revolving door. In doing so, he created his own variation on a now-defunct third category of White House press pass, called the card index, which once allowed journalists to gain access to press briefings for weeks or months a time. But this system is defunct for one simple reason: It's not secure enough. Following the Sept. 11 attacks, the Secret Service did away with the card index, according to Martha Kumar, a professor of political science at Towson State University and an expert on White House press operations.

Indeed, security is a significant difference between the two types of passes that still exist. The hard pass requires a lengthy background check, punctuated by fingerprints and photographs. Someone picking up a day pass, however, simply presents a name, Social Security number and date of birth while the Secret Service does an instant check. That means Guckert, who covered the White House for nearly two years, was never subjected to a background check. Additionally, questions remain whether his passes were issued under his alias or his real name.

On Wednesday, when asked directly whether the reporter was being cleared by the White House under the name Guckert, McClellan hedged: "My understanding, [is] yes." McClellan did confirm he knew previously that "Jeff Gannon" was not the reporter's real name.


salon.com







- - - - - - - - - - - -

About the writer
Eric Boehlert is a senior writer at Salon

[freshie247]

Get a grip Mr G,

If the Right wing could've brought this up against Clinton they would've in a nano-second.Just stick your head back up your butt like the Ass-Ostrich you so obviously are!This will all blow over as soon as the propaganda ministers for GW move into obfuscation mode.

[shamrockpow]

On a rerun of the daily show they played a clip of Bush's last news conference. The question the reporter asked (paraphrased) was this:
"Mr. President, there are a number of Democrats in congress that feel the economy in this country is not moving in the right direction...







Do you find it hard to work with people so out of touch with reality?"


Liberal bias, my cock.

Good to know White House security is doing their job and letting in military pimps with fake names! As long as they support the administration...