WASHINGTON, 13 February 2005 — It’s tough to get press credentials at the White House. So tough that many found it curious when the Bush administration provided media credentials to a man who had virtually no journalistic background, asked softball questions to the president in the midst of contentious news conferences, and routinely reprinted long passages verbatim from official press releases as original news articles on his website.
“Jeff Gannon” called himself the White House correspondent for TalonNews.com, a website that says it is “committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news coverage to our readers.” Gannon first gained attention several weeks ago when he asked a question at a presidential press conference that some in the press corps considered so friendly it might have been planted.
A little digging revealed that not only is TalonNews.com operated by a Texas-based Republican Party delegate and political activist who also runs GOPUSA.com, a website that touts itself as “bringing the conservative message to America,” but also that “Gannon” was not his real name.
Gannon, whose real name is James D. Guckert, resigned from his White House job this week amid accusations about his professional credentials and links to the Republican Party.
Critics said Gannon was being used as a White House tool to soften media coverage of Bush. The issue was raised by a media watchdog group and picked up by Internet bloggers, who linked Gannon’s presence in White House briefings to recent controversies over whether the administration manipulates the flow of information to the public.
The Gannon flap comes the same month that other media scandals broke regarding the Bush administration’s policy of pay right-wing writers to praise their policies. Armstrong Williams, a columnist and radio and TV talk show host, accepted $240,000 from the Education Department to promote the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind Act legislation, then pending before Congress.
Another columnist, Maggie Gallagher, also was paid by the Health and Human Services, HHS, to promote the president’s proposal. Like Williams, Gallagher failed to mention that she had a $21,500 contract with HHS.
Michael McManus, a marriage advocate who has a syndicated column, “Ethics & Religion,” was also hired as a subcontractor by HHS to support the Bush-approved marriage initiative. McManus praised the plan in his columns without disclosing to readers he was being paid about $4,000 directly, and another $49,000 was paid to his group, Marriage Savers, to help the plan succeed.
The Williams/Gallagher/McManus flap caused much criticism in Washington of the Bush administration’s liberal use of press people to promote their causes, but the news of Gannon being used as a media-mole in the White House made many people in town angry.
In a letter to President Bush on Wednesday, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., called for an explanation of how a Talon News reporter who used the pseudonym “Jeff Gannon” was admitted to White House briefings.
“’It appears that Mr. Gannon’s’ presence in the White House press corps was merely as a tool of propaganda for your administration,’” wrote Slaughter, a senior member of the House Rules Committee.
