At Least Rupert Murdoch Didn't Hire Him
I'm finally getting around to looking into this Jeff Gannon thing. In a haphazard way, of course. Let's start here:
CBS 'Rathergate' Producer Under Pressure from Network
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News (Sept. 17) - Talon News sources inside CBS have indicated that the producer of the '60 Minutes' story that used what appear to be forged documents to charge that President George W. Bush received preferential treatment during his service with the Texas Air National Guard 30 years ago is under pressure from the network. Mary Mapes, a Dallas-based producer, obtained the documents from a source that she and the network refuse to reveal, even though the documents themselves have been widely discredited....
Isn't it ironic...don't you think? It's like rain...
Jeff Gannon was a featured reader at the four-day annual Bible-reading marathon in front of the Capitol in May 2004.
As Mr. Jeff Gannon of Talon News Service reads at the podium, other readers wait their turn bundled in thick rain coats....
No, this is not an organized survey of the history of "Jeff Gannon." Stop making sense.
Well, after he left the employ of Talon News, "James Gannon" was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer:
BLITZER: White House reporter controversy. Did this man lob some soft questions at the White House news briefing in a bid to derail the tough questions?...He was a little known White House correspondent for a little known organization. Now he's at the center of a growing controversy buzzing around Washington and the Internet. I'll have an exclusive interview with the man who calls himself Jeff Gannon in just a moment.
First, some background from Howard Kurtz of "The Washington Post" and the host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOWARD KURTZ, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Jeff Gannon -- that's what he calls himself at least -- was an obscure member of the White House press corps before he got to ask President Bush a question two weeks ago. And that proved to be his professional downfall.
Gannon, a self-described conservative journalist, writes for the Web sites Talon News and GOPUSA, both of which are owned by Texas Republican activist Bobby Eberle. And when the president called on him, Gannon asked a rather loaded question that seemed to disparage Senator Hillary Clinton and Minority Leader Harry Reid.
JEFF GANNON, REPORTER: Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy. Harry Reid was talking about soup lines, and 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 said you're going to reach out to these people -- how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?
KURTZ: One problem, Reid has never talked about soup lines. And Gannon later admitted he had picked up the characterization of the senator's views from Rush Limbaugh.
Suddenly, bloggers on liberal Web sites like Daily Kos started digging into his background. His real name, they discovered, was James Guckert. Gannon resigned from Talon News, saying that, out of concerns for his family, his voice of the new media has gone silent. He says he's been stalked and threatened by -- quote -- "nuts on the left."
Democratic Congresswoman Louise Slaughter has asked Bush in a letter whether the White House cleared Gannon in the briefing room to serve as -- quote -- "a tool of propaganda for your administration." White House spokesman Scott McClellan dismissed the charge, saying Gannon was allowed in on a day-to-day basis, just like any journalist, and it's not his job to screen reporters based on their political views. The president says McClellan didn't know who Gannon was when he called on him.
(on camera): Jeff Gannon called himself the conservative guy and delighted in being outspoken, even confrontational. His critics call him a fake reporter. But others say that liberal bloggers went too far in digging into his background because they didn't like his politics. Howard Kurtz, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And Jeff Gannon is joining us now for an exclusive television interview, his first TV interview since leaving his job.
Jeff, thanks very much for joining us.
Should I call you Jeff or James?
GANNON: Please call me Jeff Gannon.
BLITZER: So what -- explain the discrepancy. Your real name is James D. Guckert.
GANNON: Yes. Well, it's pronounced Guckert.
BLITZER: Guckert.
GANNON: It's a professional name. I used it because Jeff Gannon is easier to pronounce and easier to remember.
BLITZER: But you haven't legally changed it?
GANNON: No.
BLITZER: So your driver's license still has Guckert?
GANNON: Absolutely.
BLITZER: So, when you went into the White House and you showed your driver's license, it was under the name Guckert.
GANNON: Absolutely.
BLITZER: And so you just did this because it was easier to pronounce, presumably.
If you didn't do anything wrong, why did you resign?
GANNON: Well, since I asked my question, people that disagree with me have harassed and threatened not only myself, but my family. And I believe that leaving my post would bring that to an end.
BLITZER: When you say they harassed your family, what was going on?
GANNON: Well, the -- on -- I've been receiving threats. People have been stalking me in my neighborhood, have followed me to church, followed me down the street. And then there are phone calls and hate mail that I've gotten over the Internet.
And it's been very troubling. And when it went toward my family, then I said that I needed to put an end to it.
BLITZER: And when you say your family, could you be a little bit more...
GANNON: Well, I mean -- I mean my -- when my mother and my brother and his wife received telephone calls that -- you know, that contained threats and all kinds of terrible things being said about me, it's very disturbing. And that's way over the line. And I needed to put that to an end.
BLITZER: Because one of the things, as you know, that were said is that you had some sexually explicit Web sites that you were working on. I don't understand what that is, but maybe you could explain that.
GANNON: Well, several years ago, before I came to Washington, I had registered various domain names for a private client. I was doing Web site development. Those sites were never hosted. There's -- nothing ever went up on them. And the client went on to do something else.
There's been so much about me on the Internet that people have, you know, made assumptions about. And I just can't -- I don't even know them all and I can't address them all here....
BLITZER: Why did you not get credentials, real credentials, from Capitol Hill from the U.S. Congress?
GANNON: Well, I made an attempt to do that originally when I was going to be covering Washington for Talon News. Our business -- Talon News' business model didn't fit the criteria of the Senate Press Gallery. And while we've been trying to comply, I couldn't stop doing the news. So I went on the basis of a daily pass. And that's -- it's all under the procedures that the White House has established for that.
BLITZER: What's the connection between GOPUSA, the political Web site, and the Talon News Service? It's owned by the same wealthy Texas Republican.
GANNON: I wouldn't say wealthy. I don't know that to be true or not. But...
BLITZER: Bobby Eberle.
GANNON: Bobby Eberle.
But it's common ownership. That's all. Talon News is a separate, independent news division. I work for Talon News. I write articles for Talon News. And that's it.
BLITZER: So what are you going to do now?
GANNON: Well, there's -- you know, God closes doors and opens windows. And I believe this is going to be a good opportunity for me, even though it's been painful. And I'm going -- I believe that there's a silver lining out there.
BLITZER: Do you have something already in the works?
GANNON: I've had some people call and make inquiries to see if I had any interest in certain positions....
Maybe Rush will hire him:
Conservative radio hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have cited Talon News, the online "news" organization that appears to be more of a Republican political advocacy group than a media outlet, and its former Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent, Jeff Gannon, as sources on their radio broadcasts....
On the September 23, 2004, edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show, host Limbaugh cited Talon News as "our source" for a story about an email sent by progressive group MoveOn.org to its supporters linking the prevalence of hurricanes in Florida at the time to global warming and the Bush administration's environmental policies. The article, titled "MoveOn: Bush to Blame for 'Extreme' Hurricane Season," has been removed from the Talon News site (along with all other archived Talon "news reports" since the organization came under scrutiny) but is available here, in Google's cache. After citing Talon News, Limbaugh read excerpts of the article and concluded: "This is total BS. ... [I]f global warming were actually happening, there would be fewer hurricanes."
As Media Matters noted, Limbaugh bragged that a quote he fabricated had surfaced in a question Gannon asked of Bush at a January 26 White House press conference. Limbaugh said he was "flattered and honored and proud to have a point made by this program represented in the press conference and asked by a reporter." Limbaugh later falsely claimed that Gannon's question was "accurate."
Comments
"Before there are too many comments regarding this: I don't personally care if someone is or is not a gay male escort. This is relevant because it exposes what Jeff Gannon's journalistic background is (none) and it shows that the gay-hating Rep administration are hypocrites once again."