Jeff Gannon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Dale Guckert (born 1957) a conservative columnist who worked under the pseudonym Jeff Gannon as a White House reporter between 2003 and 2005 , representing the virtual organization Talon News. Gannon first gained national attention during a presidential press conference on January 26, 2005, when he asked United States President George W. Bush a question that some in the press corps considered "so friendly it might have been planted."[1] Gannon stated that this question was not meant to be friendly, but to expose the hypocrisy of the left.[citation needed]

Gannon routinely obtained daily passes to White House briefings, attending four Bush press conferences and appearing regularly at White House press briefings. Although he did not qualify for a Congressional press pass, Gannon was given daily passes to White House press briefings "after supplying his real name, date of birth and Social Security number."[2] Gannon came under public scrutiny for his lack of a journalistic background prior to his work with Talon[3][4] and his involvement with various homosexual escort service websites using the professional name "Bulldog". Gannon resigned from Talon News on February 8, 2005. Continuing to use the name Gannon, he has since created his own official homepage and worked for a time as a columnist for the Washington Blade newspaper, where he admitted to be gay after he was outed as a homosexual prostitute.[5]

Currently, Gannon operates JeffGannon.com, a blog where he criticizes those who exposed him, the "Old" Media and the "Angry" Gay Left, for what he promotes as a double standard."[6] He recently published a book titled, The Great Media War.

Contents

[edit] Background

Jeff Gannon was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity when he attended West Chester University of Pennsylvania in West Chester, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1980.[7]

[edit] Media career

[edit] White House press credentials

Gannon first attended a White House press conference on February 28, 2003, and there asked a question of then White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. At this time Gannon had never had an article published, and was not associated with any kind of news organization (Talon News had not been created yet[2]). However, Gannon states that he was editor of his high school student newspaper, as proof of having some journalistic experience. [8]

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan later said that there was no breakdown in security and no one intervened on Guckert's behalf to ensure his access, despite the fact that Gannon had been able to get a press pass for the White House using an assumed name. Gannon's response was that the alias Jeff Gannon was a professional name used for convenience, saying that his "real last name is hard to spell and pronounce," and that the Secret Service was aware of his identity.[2]

Journalists have said that it can take weeks to get the kind of clearance Gannon received. The Augusta Free Press reported that its acquisition of a single one-day pass was a two-week process.[9][not in citation given] Furthermore, it was said that, highly unusually, Gannon was issued one-day press passes for nearly two years, avoiding the extensive background checks required for permanent passes, and sidestepping Gannon's inability to gain the necessary Congressional press pass. Gannon applied for a Congressional press pass in April 2004 but was denied one by The Standing Committee of Correspondents, a group of congressional reporters who oversee press credential distribution on Capitol Hill, on the grounds that Talon did not qualify as a legitimate and independent news service.[10] On his resume Gannon said he is a graduate of the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism, a two day seminar for "conservatives who want a career in journalism."[11]

[edit] Talon News

Talon News is a virtual organization (with no physical office or newsroom) owned by the Web site GOPUSA. "Talon News apparently consists of little more than (Robert) Eberle, (Jeff) Gannon, and a few volunteers, and is virtually indistinguishable from GOPUSA.com," says the Media Matters for America web site.[12] Robert Eberle is the president and CEO of both GOPUSA and Talon News. This has led to unproven charges that Talon News was created specifically to give Gannon a news organization that he could ostensibly represent, to justify his continuing to work at the White House. By the middle of February 2005, the Talon News website had shut down for an indefinite amount of time, according to the message on that site; on September 1, 2006, the site indicated the domain is for sale.

[edit] Controversy

The controversy over Gannon's background started after President George W. Bush's January 26, 2005 press conference, at which Gannon asked the president the following question:

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
"Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy. (Senate Minority Leader) Harry Reid was talking about soup lines. And (Senator) Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet in the same breath they say that Social Security is rock solid and there's no crisis there. How are you going to work – you've said you are going to reach out to these people – how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?"[3]

Gannon's question was ridiculed on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (which dubbed him "Chip Rightwingenstein of the Bush Agenda Gazette")[13] and by a number of liberal bloggers, who considered it an excessively deferential question for a reporter to ask at a presidential press conference. Gannon's question also contained factually inaccurate assertions; the supposed comments about soup lines had not been made by Reid, but had been satirically attributed to him by conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh.[3]

After the January 26, 2005 press conference, scrutiny into his personal and professional background by news organizations and blogs began. On February 8, 2005, Gannon resigned from Talon News and temporarily shut down his website Jeffgannon.com. According to the Washington Post:

Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post alleges that, "Jeff Gannon, ... whose naked pictures have appeared on a number of gay escort sites, says that he has 'regrets' about his past but that White House officials knew nothing about his salacious activities."[2] Guckert said that he has been stalked[14] and that his family has been harassed.[15] He has revived his website since that time.

Gannon is alleged to have registered several Internet domain names, including Hotmilitarystud.com and Militaryescorts4m.com[15] and posted naked pictures of himself. According to The Independent:

"Bloggers revealed that Jeff Gannon... had previously worked as a $200-an-hour gay prostitute who advertised himself on a series of websites with names such as hotmilitary stud.com."[16]

When these ads became public, Gannon refused to specifically address them, but admitted that he had made mistakes in his past. [2]

During the 2004 election, he wrote that John Kerry "might someday be known as 'the first gay president'" and that Kerry had supported "the pro-gay agenda".[2]

Cliff Kincaid, editor of the conservative Accuracy in Media report, wrote that "(t)he campaign against Gannon demonstrates the paranoid mentality and mean-spirited nature of the political left."[15]

In April of 2006, Gannon appeared on the television program Lie Detector, produced by Mark Phillips Philms & Telephision for the PAX Network (now i TV) submitting to and passing a polygraph test while asserting that he was not a White House operative. However, there is little scientific evidence to support the reliability of polygraphs.[17][18]

[edit] Connection to Plame investigation

Gannon has been questioned by the Justice Department in relation to the department's criminal investigation into the Valerie Plame affair, in which Plame's identity as an employee of the CIA was leaked to a journalist by an administration official.[19] On October 28, 2003, Talon News published an interview in three parts that Gannon had conducted with Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson,[20][21][22] Plame's husband, whom the CIA had sent to Niger in 2003 to investigate claims that Iraq was attempting to procure yellowcake uranium. In the interview, Gannon asked Wilson about an "internal government memo prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel" that said Plame had suggested Wilson for the job. In a February 2005 interview, Guckert told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that the FBI had spoken to him in an effort to learn who had leaked the classified memo and to whom, but that he had not been asked to appear before the grand jury investigating the case.[14]

Previously, Gannon had come under fire when he extensively covered the South Dakota Senate race between Tom Daschle and John Thune. Supporters of Daschle claimed he acted as a de facto member of the Thune campaign while ostensibly a journalist.[23]

[edit] Washington Blade

In July 2005, Gannon began writing for the DC-area gay publication Washington Blade. His articles included criticism of gay blogger John Aravosis, who had accused Gannon of having pornographic ads. Blade editor Chris Crain attracted his own criticism from many in the gay community for this decision, due to Gannon's past history of anti-gay reporting as well as Gannon's refusal to disclose his sexual orientation. He has said, "My personal life is a private matter, despite that fact that I have become a public person." Crain defended his decision in a September 2005 editorial[24] and said that the "steady stream of feedback/vitriol" had declined "a little" with each new Gannon article. Right-wing Crain resigned as editor in 2006, at that point Gannon was let go by the new editoral team.

[edit] House Judiciary Committee

The House Judiciary Committee voted against House resolution 136, on March 16, 2005 that would have directed the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security to transmit documents in the possession of officials to the House of Representatives. These documents related to the security investigations and background checks involved in granting access to the White House of James D. Guckert (also known as Jeff Gannon). The documents were to be transmitted no later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of the resolution.

During the Committee meeting Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee claimed that Gannon had engaged in "a penetration of the White House, maybe a security breach, and I do not believe it can be answered with self-investigation. [25] [26]

Chairman Sensenbrenner pointed out that a letter dated March 7, 2005, from the Secret Service stated, "Please be advised that our Office of Protective Operations has looked into this matter and has determined that there was no deviation from Secret Service standards and procedures as your letter suggests," [25] The letter did not detail what the standards were.

Guckert, who wants to be addressed as Jeff Gannon, wrote in his blog, "I hope this vote will put these issues to rest and allow me to return to my work as a journalist." In his recently published book [2], Gannon refutes any suggestion of a role at the White House of anything other than an independent conservative journalist.

[edit] White House records

Democratic Representatives John Conyers of Michigan and Louise Slaughter of New York had submitted similar requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), on February 15, 2005. The Louise Slaughter request was answered by the Department of Homeland Security with Secret Service records of Mr. Gannon's check in and out times at the White House.[27] The Secret Service Records appear to show that Gannon checked in, but never checked out on many occasions, and visited the White House on several days during which no press conference or other press events were held.[28] In a 2007 interview, Gannon stated that he has never spent the night at the White House.[8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Congresswoman Asks for Probe After 'Gannon' Quits WH Reporting Post", Editor and Publisher, 2005-02-09. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kurtz, Howard. "Jeff Gannon Admits Past 'Mistakes,' Berates Critics", Washington Post, 2005-02-19, pp. C01. Retrieved on 2007-05-12. 
  3. ^ a b c Savage, Charlie; Alan Wirzbicki. "White House-friendly reporter under scrutiny", Boston Globe, 2005-02-02. Retrieved on 2007-05-05. 
  4. ^ Boehlert, Eric. ""Jeff Gannon's" secret life", Salon, 2005-02-15. Retrieved on 2007-05-05. 
  5. ^ "Gannon comes out: Former escort, conservative reporter grilled on White House visits", The Raw Story, May 5, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-09-07. . "Rogers went farther: 'Are you a gay man?' 'Absolutely, but I'm not proud' Gannon said."
  6. ^ Another Gay Martyr (Or Two) Is Born. JeffGannon.com (March 12, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-05-08.
  7. ^ Minutes—Second Quarterly Meeting (.pdf). Tau Kappa Epsilon Alumni Association of West Chester University (2004-05-01). Retrieved on 2006-09-28.
  8. ^ a b Joynt, Carol Ross (2007-04-19). Q&A Cafe at Nathan's: Jeff Gannon (Flash). video interview. Q&A Cafe TV. Retrieved on 2007-05-08.
  9. ^ Views on the News, Our View. Editorial. Augusta Free Press (2005-02-11). Retrieved on 2006-10-07.
  10. ^ Strupp, Joe. "White House Correspondents Criticize Alleged 'Softball Thrower' -- and Jeff Gannon Fires Back", Editor & Publisher, 2005-02-02. 
  11. ^ Broadcast Journalism School. Leadership Institute. Retrieved on 2007-05-08.
  12. ^ Foser, Jamison (2005-01-28). What is Talon News, and why does it have press credentials?. MediaMatters. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
  13. ^ Headlines - Look Who's Talking (at 2:14). video. Comedy Central (2005-01-27). Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
  14. ^ a b "CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports", transcript, CNN, 2005-02-10. Retrieved on 2007-05-08. 
  15. ^ a b c Kurtz, Howard. "Online Nude Photos Are Latest Chapter In Jeff Gannon Saga", Washington Post, 2005-02-16, pp. C01. Retrieved on 2007-05-12. 
  16. ^ Buncombe, Andrew. "White House's Loyal Reporter Once Worked as Gay Hooker", The Independent, 2005-02-20. 
  17. ^ Scientific Validity of Polygraph Testing: A Research Review and Evaluation. Washington, D. C.: U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment (1983). Retrieved on 2008-02-29.
  18. ^ Monitor on Psychology - The polygraph in doubt. American Psychological Association (07-2004). Retrieved on 2008-02-29.
  19. ^ Saunders, Debra J.. "A case of mistaken identity", San Francisco Chronicle, 2006-08-31. Retrieved on 2007-05-15. 
  20. ^ Gannon, Jeff. "Wilson Talks about Niger Mission; Blasts Bush Foreign Policy", Talon News, 2003-10-28. Retrieved on 2007-05-14. 
  21. ^ Gannon, Jeff. "Wilson Says Iraq Not a War for WMDs", Talon News, 2003-10-29. Retrieved on 2007-05-14. 
  22. ^ Gannon, Jeff. "Wilson Says President has been Badly Advised", Talon News, 2003-11-03. Retrieved on 2007-05-14. 
  23. ^ Conason, Joe. "Gannon: The early years", Salon, 2005-02-18. Retrieved on 2007-03-29. 
  24. ^ Crain, Chris (2005-09-23). Gunning for Gannon is unhealthy sport. Editorial. Washington Blade. Retrieved on 2006-10-07.
  25. ^ a b House of Representatives security investigation"[1]
  26. ^ Scott Shepard, "House rejects probe of reporter's access", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 17, 2005.
  27. ^ Secret Service White House Access Records for James Guckert. RawStory (April 2005). Retrieved on 2006-10-07.
  28. ^ Leupp, Gary. "The Comings and Goings of Jeff Gannon", Counterpunch, 2005-05-22. Retrieved on 2007-05-08. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] News/comment