Posted on 02/02/2005 6:43:13 AM PST by Pikamax
White House-friendly reporter under scrutiny By Charlie Savage and Alan Wirzbicki, Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent | February 2, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has provided White House media credentials to a man who has virtually no journalistic background, asks softball questions to the president and his spokesman in the midst of contentious news conferences, and routinely reprints long passages verbatim from official press releases as original news articles on his website.
Jeff Gannon calls himself the White House correspondent for TalonNews.com, a website that says it is "committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news coverage to our readers." It is 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."
Called on last week by President Bush at a press conference, Gannon attacked Democratic Senate leaders and called them "divorced from reality." During the presidential campaign, when called on by Press Secretary Scott McClellan, Gannon linked Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, to Jane Fonda and questioned why anyone would dispute Bush's National Guard service.
Now, the question of how Gannon gets into White House press conferences is coming under intense scrutiny from critics who contend that Gannon is not a journalist but rather 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Well-put.
It reminds me of the evolution/anything-else controversy. We're told that all scientists believe in evolution. Later, we learn that this is because anyone who doesn't believe in evolution is eo ipso disqualified from being a scientist.
Neat little circle.
Dan
No, it wasn't a real journalist, in this case, it was Democratic shill David Brock.
And this Globe "story" is a virtual cut and paste of Brock's accusations.
Someone should alert THEIR editors.
Exactly right on target.
Dan
I guess the irony of the Boston Globe reprinting a Media Matters press release complaining that TalonNews reprints White House press releases has competely escaped them.
The sin here is political heresy, not bad journalism. Where would Jeff Gannon go, exactly, to get "credentials" sufficient to satisfy David Brock?
What is Helen Thomas, I thought she retired, but she's still sitting on the front row in the Whitehouse press room making speeches while asking questions. Who does she represent now?
" asks softball questions" Larry King?
So, somebody at the DNC fed this story to the Boston Globe?
It's more like this: "Who died and put David Brock in charge of content at the Boston Globe?"
the "GLOB"? Or the GLOBE? Never mind, I like yours better.
I may be wrong, but isn't that exactly what the NY Times, WP, et al are? It seems that so called news that they print is nothing more than editorial commentary made into a news article, or a poll that they took rolled into an article like it's fact.
They all suck because they all report like they want it to be, not just the facts to allow the reader to decide.
If the Democrats want to screw this guy, why don't they try doing it to his face, and eliminate the middlemen?
My guess is that a tatoo imprinted by the local DNC/ACLU chapter is the only identifiable "mark".
Perfect. BTTT and alert the media on this one!
They are truly a bunch of spoiled cry babies...that can't take any voices that's not pushing THEIR AGENDA....what a bunch of scumbags...
Way to go WH....I'm sure you can find others out here in middle America as pro Bush WH correspondence.
The WH has let Helen Thomas continue to hang around even though she's officially only an op-ed columnist now (although she always was), and they're complaining about this guy?
Yeah, and Charlie Savage calls himself a Staff Reporter.
I think Mr. Gannon has been performing the function of a reporter for over a year. No complaints until he was asked a question during a broadcast presser. Mr. Gannon is a Freeper, I'm sure many readers here know.
They've moved on from attacking Brit Hume and now they're after Jeff Gannon........LOLOLOLOLOLOL
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