Posted on 01/31/2005 5:57:56 PM PST by Bob J
Letter from David Brock to Scott McClellan January 31, 2005
Scott McClellan Press Secretary The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. McClellan:
I am writing to ask you to consider revoking the White House press credentials apparently granted to Jeff Gannon of Talon News. Mr. Gannon and Talon News appear to be political activists rather than actual journalists, and as such should not be presented to the public as an independent news agency.
Consider:
Talon News is virtually indistinguishable from an organization called GOPUSA, which describes itself as "dedicated to promoting conservative ideals." Both are run by Bobby Eberle, and websites for both entities are registered to Mr. Eberle at his home address. The contact information listed for Talon News includes Mr. Eberle's GOPUSA.com email address. The staff of Talon News and GOPUSA is comprised almost entirely of Republican activists with no journalism experience whatsoever. For example, Mr. Eberle is president of GOPUSA and also serves as editor in chief of Talon News, but his biography lists no journalism experience. He did, however, serve as a delegate to the 2000 Republican National Convention, and has held numerous other Republican Party posts in the past. Other Talon News and GOPUSA staff include county Republican Party chairs, delegates to state Republican conventions, and other Republican officials. Posts by Messrs. Eberle and Gannon on the online forum Free Republic make clear that the two men are partisan activists, not journalists. Mr. Gannon, for example, used Free Republic to try to organize partisan political activities designed to embarrass and discredit Senator John Kerry during last year's presidential campaign. Mr. Gannon's conduct during your briefings, as well as presidential press conferences, further suggests that his true role is that of a partisan operative rather than an independent journalist. His questions reliably criticize Democrats and praise President Bush, often containing false assertions, such as his question last week -- based on Rush Limbaugh's radio program -- that incorrectly asserted that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid "was talking about soup lines."
Washington Post columnist Dan Froomkin noted in a March 10, 2004, column that Mr. Gannon frequently asks "softballs" during White House press briefings, adding:
And press secretary McClellan seems to appreciate it.
Yesterday, for instance, McClellan was getting hammered with questions about the 9/11 commission and the possible inappropriate juxtaposition of a visit to a 9/11 memorial with a fundraiser on Thursday.
It was getting ugly. "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," McClellan said in response to a jibe.
Then he saw daylight:
"Go ahead, Jeff."
Mr. Gannon wrote in a post on FreeRepublic.com that you are apparently aware of what he will ask you at briefings; in response to a comment about your reaction to a question he asked, Mr. Gannon wrote: "It's hard to say with Scott but he usually knows what he's going to get from me."
Given all of this, it seems that Mr. Gannon serves not as a reporter during press briefings but as a useful lifeline for you to rely on when you get in trouble.
In light of recent revelations about the Bush administration's relationship with conservative writers Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher, and Michael McManus, as well as about the administration's repeated use of fake video "news" reports to promote policies, the public is understandably concerned that the White House seems to be trying to manipulate public opinion using fake "news." Given that Talon News seems to be little more than a partisan political organization and given that, based on what Mr. Gannon has written, you apparently know what he will ask during your briefings, Mr. Gannon's continued participation in White House press briefings would seem to exacerbate those concerns.
The public has a right to expect that when you hold press briefings, the reporters are real and the questions are not staged beforehand. They have a right not to be deceived into thinking they are seeing and hearing reporters ask honest questions when they are really seeing a staged performance by partisan operatives.
Unfortunately, Mr. Gannon's propaganda doesn't end at the conclusion of White House briefings. His "articles" are frequently little more than reprints of White House press releases and fact sheets, as Media Matters for America has demonstrated. I understand that your office issues press releases with the hope that reporters quote them. But surely you understand that when Mr. Gannon's "articles" lift heavily from President Bush's statements without directly disclosing that the words are the president's, not Mr. Gannon's, he is working not as a journalist but as an agent of the White House.
Mr. McClellan, the public needs to be confident that your briefings and the president's press conferences are honest, open dialogues with real reporters. Now more than ever, the public needs to be certain that the White House isn't using fake "journalists" to manipulate public opinion. Revoking Mr. Gannon's credentials would be a good first step in that direction.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any assistance or if you would like further information. I have attached some materials about Mr. Gannon we have produced that may be helpful.
Sincerely,
David Brock President and CEO Media Matters for America
David Brock protests airing of anti-Kerry film
62-station chain to show 'Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal'
Posted: October 11, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Left-wing media critic and journalist David Brock is warning a television-station chain to cancel its plans to air the anti-Kerry film "Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal," contending it could violate campaign broadcast regulations.
Brock, known for his ideological switch from right to left, wrote in a letter that Sinclair Broadcasting's "plan to air anti-Kerry propaganda before the election is an abuse of the public airwaves for what appears to be partisan political purposes."
As WorldNetDaily first reported, the television documentary features testimony by former POWs of the demoralizing impact of the senators' war-crimes accusations more than 30 years ago.
aryland-based Sinclair has ordered its 62 stations to preempt regular programming during prime time next week to air the 42-minute film. The station group, which reaches about 24 percent of U.S. households, has coverage in crucial battleground states.
In his letter, Brock wrote, "I don't have to remind you ... [that] 14 of the 62 stations the company either owns or programs are in the key political swing stations of Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where the presidential election is being closely fought."
Brock is CEO and president of Media Matters for America, a Web-based non-profit "dedicated to correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media."
-end snip-
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40853
I await the White House coming to grips with the new media reality and either extending press creds to Freepers and other respected on line journos
or holding a press conference solely for on line journalists and talk show hosts.
It would be forward looking and cutting edge , I'm surprised the WH has not done this already.
David Brock? LOL. I'm sure they'll get right on it.
Free speech is only for liberals like Brock. If they removed the credentials of every reporter who was partisan, the White House Press Room would be near empty.
This is obviously a queer complaint.
Brock’s Self-Borking
You don’t sell credibility like David Brock’s all at once.
June 28, 2001 1:45 p.m.
By Jonah Goldberg
G-File Archive
One of the oldest jokes in the world is the one about the three-legged pig. There are dozens of versions, but they all basically go like this:
There's a traveling salesman making his way through the backwoods when he approaches a farmer to make a sale. He sees a three-legged pig hopping around behind the farmer and asks, "Hey, why does your pig only have three legs?"
"That's no ordinary pig!" exclaims the farmer. "That is the smartest pig in the whole world. It saved my family's life." The farmer continues, "Last summer, the stove done broke and gas was leaking all over the place. That there pig pounded on the door and woke everybody up."
"Okay, but why is it missing a leg?"
"And then, last summer, the pig pulled my wife out of the lake when she'd done cramped up and near drown."
"Yeah, but why only three legs?"
"Well, son, with a pig that special, you don't eat it all at once."
Badum bum.
Well, we have a new version of the pig joke. This time the pig is David Brock. And the punch line goes something like, "You don't sell credibility like mine all at once."
In the late 1980s and early 1990s David Brock was a prized hatchet man for the American Spectator. He wrote a devastating piece exposing the obvious fact that the forces and individuals arrayed against Clarence Thomas were hardly political rubes. Of Anita Hill, he said she was "a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty." I can't say a word about the slutty, but the "nutty" assertion didn't require an investigative reporter to nail down; all you had to do was read her academic writings. But that's a different story.
Later, David Brock wrote some articles in The American Spectator about the fact that, as governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton's behavior toward state female employees was akin to Fredo Corleone's behavior toward cocktail waitresses after the family sent him to the Tropicana.
Then, something happened.
Brock took a mammoth, $550,000 advance to write a book about Hillary Clinton, but by the mid 1990s no liberal source in the world would talk to Brock. The famed investigative reporter of the Right couldn't get the story, unless by "getting the story" you mean dissecting a stack of newspaper clippings compiled by an intern.
-end snip-
http://www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg062801.shtml
Well, I can dream can't I?
TS
What a deceitful little weasel Brock is.
He is disgusting.
But we did our best. But then, we were competing with an expert.
you beat me to it. She no longer has the credentials to be there - why do they allow her to enter the room
ROFLMAO........from David Brock, who can't even decide what sexual orientation he is, much less which political party is belongs to -- but will sell himself to the highest bidder?
It was getting ugly. "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," McClellan said in response to a jibe.
Thanks for the ping. Check out David getting all hot about McClellan being "hammered" (over yet another made-up little scandalette the media has concocted) and then like a dash of cold water, Jeff Gannon asks a pertinent question and the fun is over.
at least they took Helen out of the front row last year..
Gannon asks great questions and is a conservative. They just can't stand how intelligence he sounds next to their stupid questions and accusations.
Sure, the W.H. will revoke his cedentials. When they revoke the credentials of the DNC propaganda crew known as CBS, NYT's, CNN, etc.
WTG Jeff! You really got under their skin, of course that indicates success.
One conservative reporter in the entire room and the White House Press Corps suddenly realizes that they are outnumbered...
;-)
TS
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