Posted on 02/10/2005 5:43:12 PM PST by Dane
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following Jeff Gannon's February 8 resignation as Talon News Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent, Talon News -- which appears to be more of a Republican political advocacy group than a media outlet -- removed all archived news stories from its website. Despite Gannon's claim that he is not "someone who takes a strong position and speaks in support of that issue," a Media Matters for America review of Gannon's catalogue of work for Talon (still available as cached documents via Google) showed that Gannon often used his news articles as a platform to defend the Bush administration and attack its opponents.
"Kerry's Alleged Intern Identified"
On February 12, 2004, The Drudge Report featured an unconfirmed report concerning a supposed extramarital affair between Senator John Kerry and an unnamed woman. In a February 16, 2004, article titled "Kerry's Alleged Intern Identified, Taped Interview With Major Television Network," Gannon advanced the baseless rumor, adding the unattributed claim that the woman in question had taped an interview with "one of the major television networks" in which she substantiated the allegation. However, as Newsday columnist James P. Pinkerton pointed out the following day, "The woman, Alexandra Polier, said that all the allegations were false. And her parents issued a statement supporting not only their daughter, but also Kerry's candidacy for president." Pinkerton specifically addressed Gannon's Talon article: "Walking on the even wilder side, an online news outfit, Talon News, asserted that the woman had 'taped an interview with one of the major television networks at Christmas substantiating the alleged affair.'"
"Kerry Could Become First Gay President"
In an October 12, 2004, article titled "Kerry Could Become First Gay President," Gannon claimed that because of his "support for the pro-gay agenda," Senator Kerry "might someday be known as 'the first gay president' were he to win the White House in November." Gannon was alluding to instances in which Bill Clinton was referred to as "the first black president" for the support and popularity he drew from the African-American community. Republicans attacked Kerry on the issue of gay marriage throughout the 2004 presidential campaign.
Swift Boat Vets focus on "Kerry's bitter legacy that haunts many Vietnam veterans"
Gannon readily embraced the discredited anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (now Swift Vets and POWs for Truth), reporting the group's questionable allegations as fact. In an August 18, 2004, article, he wrote: "Kerry's broad accusations that portrayed American soldiers as 'baby killers' is part of the bitter legacy of the war hero turned antiwar activist. Many veterans that Kerry defamed have never forgiven him and have recently spoken up to oppose his election as commander in chief." In an August 20, 2004, article titled "Kerry Fires Back at Swifties, Claims Bush Behind Ads," Gannon reported a distortion repeatedly echoed by Republicans, that in Kerry's 1971 Senate testimony, Kerry "accus(ed)" American soldiers of "committing war crimes":
The group's leader John O'Neill's book, "Unfit for Command," will debut on the New York Times best-seller list at No. 3 this week and a new ad will begin to air on Friday. It is likely to focus on the testimony Kerry gave before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971.
His testimony is part of Kerry's bitter legacy that haunts many Vietnam veterans. Kerry's accusations of American soldiers committing war crimes cast a stain on all who served. The dashing war hero turned antiwar activist gave a boost to the movement that undermined U.S. will to continue involvement in Southeast Asia and resulted in the communist takeover of Vietnam.
Gannon again repeated the allegation in an August 25, 2004, article, writing: "The latest ad being run by the 'Swifties' centers on Kerry's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971 where he accused American soldiers of committing war crimes."
As Media Matters for America has repeatedly noted, in his 1971 Senate testimony, Kerry simply related the testimony of other Vietnam veterans who came home and spoke about their personal experiences at the Winter Soldier Investigation hearing in Detroit earlier that year. Testifying in his capacity as spokesman for Vietnam Veterans Against the War, which organized the Winter Soldier hearing, Kerry focused blame on the leaders at that time -- not the soldiers -- for the atrocities they claimed to have committed or witnessed.
Media Matters has revealed that Gannon has lifted excerpts from Republican documents verbatim and without attribution for his "news reports," lobbed softball questions during White House press briefings and presidential press conferences, and repeatedly served as a "lifeline" for Scott McClellan. In Gannon's own words: "It's hard to say with Scott but he usually knows what he's going to get from me."
Put Abu Ghraib "in proper perspective"
Gannon downplayed the "alleged" abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in a May 11, 2004, article titled "Administration Pressed to Release Pictures from Saddam's Torture Chambers." In the article, Gannon acknowledged that it was actually Talon News that was pressing the administration to release the photos to "put the photographs from Abu Ghraib in proper perspective." According to Gannon:
Some Americans are angry about the overreaction of the "Arab street" and the politicization of the (Abu Ghraib) matter by Democrats. The White House press corps' demands for an apology from President Bush have been a particular source of annoyance to many since no apologies were issued after several American contractors were burned and hung from a bridge in Falluja last month. They contend that the prisoners that were photographed while naked will survive their ordeal, but many of Saddam's victims did not survive the torture chambers and will never be seen again.
Gannon himself had asked White House press secretary Scott McClellan to release the photos during the previous day's press briefing, and in doing so provided yet another "lifeline" to McClellan, who had faced a series of tough questions about the administration's accountability in the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal.
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Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. Media Matters for America is the first organization to systematically monitor the media for conservative misinformation every day, in real time
David Brock and a co hort of dailykos..Brock was on with Catherine Crier on Court TV. Her tut tutting over bias was laughable..
WHERE IS THE VIDEO>>Eason Jordan?
I don't know about you, but whenever I see "discredited" used in association with the SwiftVets, I get a little charge. It's like they KNOW everyone believes them, so they say "They were discredited, you know, just in case you didn't know. Discredited!"
Word to the MediaMissManners crowd: If you have to keep TELLING us they were discredited, then they haven't been discredited. :D
I knew I was forgetting something! :)
DU, DailyKos and the rest of the lunatic fringe are acting as if this is Monica's stained blue dress.
What I can't figure out about the liberals is why they use alledged homosexuality as a smear. I thought they were tolerant of that kind of stuff.
And have we all forgotten the "Missing Weapons In Iraq Used To Kill Our Soldiers" story? The MSM sure seems to have.
If they were discredited, why didn't Jacques Querri release his military records and sue for slander?
It almost has the tone of how dare of Mr. Gannon and the Queen is not amused.
Whatever Gannon's flaws were, he has been the target of an orchestrated smear attack, epitomized by the NY Daily News article today that basically claimed as fact in the headline that he had ties to gay prostitution - when the body of the article used "possible." But no matter - the headline is what makes the impression.
There are plenty of DU posters who will slither over here and post what you just posted from David Brock's third-rate ripoff of conservative media monitoring sites. So I guess you must be from DU also, since you're posting stuff from Media Matters.
So having made the insinuation, I will next start a thread with the headline that it is confirmed that you are a DU poster paid by Terry McAuliff. And then it will be fact. See how easy it is?
Is he really from DU? :-)
Discredited by who?
Yeah, and I did a search on the internet and found that Dane hosted the official Britney Spears Fan Club website and also the website where you can buy those Girls Gone Wild videos.
OH THE HUMANITY!
"White House" = "White House correspondents"
Why isn't Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank demanding an investigation into Eason Jordan's claims?
Claims they witnessed themselves.
DOJ is investigating Sandy. We're not hearing anything because the DOJ is not leaking stuff about it - thank goodness.
I don't know if you are being sarcastic or trying to start a flame war, but I'll ignore it.
I posted this just to show how desparate the left is and for Freepers to tear it apart.
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