Posted on 02/17/2005 9:53:22 AM PST by Dont Mention the War
Published: February 17, 2005 11:05 AM ET
NEW YORK Washington Post staff writer Dana Milbank, a former White House correspondent, tells a leading blog there remains reason to believe that, contrary to statements from the White House, ex-reporter James “Jeff Gannon” Guckert, may had a "hard" (long-term) press pass rather than a daily pass.
Milbank said on Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC show last week that he thought he had seen Guckert/Gannon with a hard pass. Both the disgraced ex-reporter for Talon News and White House press Secretary Scott McClellan have denied this.
But Milbank affirmed, in an interview posted today at the popular blog Daily Kos, “A hard pass has your photo and news org and name on it. A daily pass is just a brown and white striped pass that says, ‘Press,’ on it and comes on a dog-tag style chain. Note that the one Gannon wears in the footage on TV is a blue lanyard - not the sort of thing a day pass comes on.”
Meanwhile, in her New York Times column today, Maureen Dowd reveals, “I was rejected for a White House press pass at the start of the Bush administration, but someone with an alias, a tax evasion problem and Internet pictures where he posed like the ‘Barberini Faun’ is credentialed....”
And more today: Eric Boehlert in the online magazine Salon picks up another revelation from the blogosphere. It seems that Gannon/Guckert, as revealed in a television clip, had access to the White House briefing room as early as February 28, 2003. This may be significant, Boehlert argues, because the organization Gannon/Guckert worked for, Talon News, did not exist until March and did not begin publishing news stories until then. The White House, explaining how Gannon/Guckert managed to get press credentials, has repeatedly claimed that only reporters with "regularly publishing" news organizatons can get passes. So how, Boehlert asks, did Gannon/Guckert qualify in February 2003?
Milbank’s interview with “Susan G” of DailyKos, which was one of the main sites that broke the Gannon/Guckert story, touched on several interesting areas on the relationship of the mainstream press and blogs.
Responding to charges “that the mainstream press is lazy and slow,” Milbank declared: “I'd argue to you that it's really a product of our resources (far fewer than you seem to suppose) and our resulting prioritizing (correctly, for the most part). It's not that Gannon, and the CNN guy's remarks in Switzerland, etc. aren't stories, it's that they're not the most important stories.”
Asked if the media was now under pressure from blogs, Milbank responded: “I don't think we feel pressured. But it does drive the agenda in a sense that stories pop up in the blog ether and, because people start talking about them, they need to be addressed or debunked. The Kerry mistress story comes to mind.
“The web is both the salvation and the demise of print journalism. Proliferating blogs make it more unlikely that an important story will be missed or slip through the cracks. Even a large news organization like the Post has only 40 or 50 national reporters; there are zillions of bloggers.
“The downside is the web is contributing to the decentralization of information so that people can choose their own news, and facts, based on their ideology. I can see us reaching a point where conservatives get their news exclusively from Free Republic and liberals get it from World-o-Crap, and we're living in parallel universes.”
Asked if this meant mainstream outlet now faced continuing falloff in viewers/readers, Milbank said: “I think it's an inevitable result of the proliferation of news outlets, not just blogs but cable news, talk radio, etc. Newspapers (and newsmags, and the nets) can slow the decline but it's probably out of our power to reverse it.”
What about the mainstream and blogs somehow joining forces? “I think there will have to be convergence. I'd like to know how you, and your readers, think this could best be done. Some of us have thought about the idea of doing a daily blog report, summarizing what the top blogs are saying and assessing the accuracy/significance, but that's just a small item.”
Greg Mitchell (gmitchell@editorandpublisher.com) is the editor of E&P.
Maureen Dowd was denied a press pass. Maybe the White House is run better than I thought.
Well, Maureen, actually, I know you may find this a bit embarrassing, but his credentials are better than yours. He actually leaves the office from time to time before he writes up a story. You make yours up straight out of your head--or some other part of your body, perhaps.
Welcome to FR--
What I find absolutely stunning is that the WH would offer press credentials to MoDo , but, not someone from FR.
MoDo has a BA in English lit and years of indoctrination at the NYT.
Maybe it was her job as a sports columnist for the defunct Washington Star that gives her the edge on the more educated and better grounded Freepers.
Milbank thinks that FR is static, he has no idea that it is a constantly flowing stream of new information, ideas and links to other outlets of information.
FR is a news portal, in fact, it's The News Portal, not a dead end , like todays's newspapers and evening news broadcasts.
I posted this on another forum last night.
" With an estimated 8 million blogs in the US last year and 32 million readers "
Added to the members and lurkers of conservative forums like FR and the millions of listeners to talk radio, there are an enormous amount of people who get their news from the ascendant media .
But, are not allowed any representation at WH briefings and Presidential press conferences.
Imagine a press conference where people from Rush Limbaugh to Jim Robinson to DFU to Sean Hannity to Hugh Hewitt to Howlin to Miss Marple to Laura Ingraham and reps from Captain's Quarters and Power Line and on and on and on were allowed to ask intelligent, insightful and thought provoking questions of elected officials- in one forum.
I still don't understand why this WH does not conduct separate press briefings with the ascendant media-even on an experimental basis.
It could even be a teleconference type situation where a bunch of citizen journalists were allowed to take turns asking the President and/or McClellan questions.
What is the WH afraid of ?
That Terry Moran and John Roberts and David Gregory and Maureen Dowd might become upset and cease their puff pieces on the President and his policies ? ( sarcasm off )
I think that sums up her situation nicely!
Hi Mo! Heard from Michael lately? Probably not...I hear he's pretty happy with CZJ.
Well, if Gannon isn't the most important story, Dana, why don't you devote your attention to something else?
Is World-O-Crap an actual site or is he referring to DU?
LOL
This was worth reading just to see that.
hahahahahahahahahaha
(Milbank said): It's not that Gannon, and the CNN guy's remarks in Switzerland, etc. aren't stories, it's that they're not the most important stories.”
"The CNN guy"? Dana couldn't pluck that "guy's" name out of his tiny brain, I see.
BTW, Rush mocked a Milbank story today. It was about Rumsfeld's appearance before Congressional committees yesterday.
David Corn
"..."Maureen Dowd reveals, “I was rejected"..."
Is she a reporter?
(scroll down, second topic)
Members of the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) met yesterday with President Bush's spokesman, Scott McClellan, to discuss the White House credentialing system for reporters, but neither side pressed for stricter guidelines and each is wary of setting new limits on access.
The 20-minute meeting came a week after James D. Guckert, aka Jeff Gannon, a former reporter for the conservative Talon News, resigned amid charges that he was not a legitimate reporter for a bona fide news organization.
The WHCA, which deals with the administration on coverage-related issues, did not use the meeting to press for new guidelines to decide which reporters can get into the White House for daily briefings, reports Joseph Curl of The Washington Times.
"Nobody asked anybody else to do anything, and nobody said they intend to do anything," said WHCA President Ron Hutcheson, who added that no official action was likely at a Feb. 28 WHCA board meeting. "Our general position is to let people in, not to keep people out."
Under nonmandatory guidelines from the Clinton administration, which are sometimes bent by the White House and by news organizations, reporters seeking a permanent White House "hard pass" must:
•Work for a news organization with a Washington bureau.
•Be certified by the organization's executives as a regular correspondent.
•Demonstrate a need to be at the White House on a daily basis.
•Live in the Washington area.
•Be a member of the congressional press gallery.
Mr. McClellan said he reiterated the administration stance in yesterday's meeting that the White House should not be deciding which reporters get in.
"I certainly don't think it's the press secretary's role to get into picking and choosing," he said in a telephone interview.
~snip~
This is so damn petty that it makes me sick.
Fox Butterfield, Nicholas Kristof - Both NY Slimes.
2. Permanent passes are granted by the White House Correspondents Assocation, not the White House.
3. Day passes are granted through the White House security system, based on working for a bonafide news organization and passing a rudimentary security check.
A big time reporter for the Washington Putz "thinks he recalls seeing Gannon with a hard pass"? My kids couldn't say that with a straight face. And why would Maureen Dowd be granted a White House hard pass? These are restricted to people who publish on White House events daily. She could claim that she is writing for a sorority newsletter and, based on her writings, who would question it.
"I can see us reaching a point where conservatives get their news exclusively from Free Republic and liberals get it from World-o-Crap"
.... hmmm, if that "world-o-crap" is a new term for "MSM" and New York Times, I'm cool with it.
Richard Cohen
Eleanor Clift
Molly Ivens
Helen Thomas
(I'm sure there are many more -- just can't think of them at the moment!)
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