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Thursday, February 10, 2005

This almost makes up for being represented by Scott Garrett in the House
Posted by Jill | 7:28 PM

Almost:

Dear Mr. McClellan,

I am writing to request that you immediately release documents to my office relating to the White House press credentials of James D. Guckert, a.k.a. "Jeff Gannon." Specifically, I am seeking documentation related to the question of which name Mr. Guckert/Gannon used when applying for credentials, and which name was on the official White House press credentials he received. Additionally, I am seeking documents indicating whether Mr. Guckert/Gannon received a "hard pass" or daily passes from your office. Despite your assertions to the contrary, at least one White House reporter has revealed that Mr. Guckert/Gannon appeared to have "hard pass" credentials.

As you may know, Mr. Guckert/Gannon was denied a Congressional press pass because he could not show that he wrote for a valid news organization. Given the fact that he was denied Congressional credentials, I seek your explanation of how Mr. Guckert/Gannon passed muster for White House press credentials.

I have led the effort in the Senate to investigate a number of instances of troubling propaganda efforts by the Administration. The Government Accountability Office has agreed to my requests to investigate various attempts at media manipulation: fake television news stories touting both the new Medicare law and the "No Child Left Behind" education program; a study rating individual journalists on their "favorability" to Republican education policies; and the payment to journalist Armstrong Williams.

Since the Armstrong Williams controversy became public, Administration payments to two other journalists, Maggie Gallagher and Michael McManus, have come to light. Given the backdrop of these scandals, coupled with Mr. Guckert/Gannon's role in recent White House press briefings and press conferences, it is understandable that the circumstances of Mr. Guckert/Gannon's credentialing have raised suspicion.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely, Frank R. Lautenberg


That's MY Senator, folks!!

Meanwhile, a former White House staffer (not under this Administration) writes to Romanesko:

Having worked in the White House, I can assure everyone that not only would it be impossible to get a White House pass using an alias, it is impossible even to get past the gate for an appointment using an alias. Thorough FBI background checks are required for the former and a picture ID is necessary for the latter. Therefore, if Gannon was using an alias, White House staff had to be involved in maintaining his cover.


But as Eric Boehlert reports in Salon today, even a Republican who works for Fox News think that something's fishy here:

The situation "begs further investigation," says James Pinkerton, a media critic for Fox News who has worked for two Republican White Houses. "In the six years I worked for Reagan and Bush I, I remember the White House being strict about who got in. It's inconceivable to me that the White House, especially after 9/11, gives credentials to people without doing a background check."


Now, if you read my partial transcript of Gannonguckert's interview with my new short duration personal hero, Mr. Folkenflik of NPR, you read that Shill-Man claimed:

I submit personal information to the Whtie House and they do the background check and they let me in. And I'm fully in compliance, I don't get any special treatment....as far as the credentialing process, those who are responsible for doing that credentialing...see, the WH doesn't do that, it rests with the Congressional press galleries and their criteria doesn't reflect the changes in the media and that's a discussion that's a little beyond me because I don't control...I'm in full compliance with their reqs for a reporter; they have questions about our news service that need to be dealt with and they will be in due course.


But those who know about such things differ with Gannonguckert's account:

Mark Smith, vice president of the White House Correspondents Association, says it's up to White House officials to decide whom they want to wave in each day. "They don't consult us." If they had, Smith says, he would have been "very uncomfortable" granting Gannon the same access as professional journalists.

And the association never would have backed a reporter using an alias. Says Pinkerton: "If [Gannon] was walking around the White House with a pass that had a different name on it than his real name, that's pretty remarkable." Smith, who covers the White House for Associated Press radio, says he "could have sworn" that he saw credentials around Gannon's neck with the name "Jeff Gannon" on them.


Now forgetting for a minute about people like Howie the Whore Kurtz, who has decided it's all the bloggers' fault, when all the bloggers have done is what's called investigative journalism (and no, I'm not taking credit for any of it, it was all done by others; I'm just aggregating from the work of others, let there be no misinterpretation). Let's talk about other journalists from smaller mainstream outlets, who are real journalists, but don't get invited to all the great parties -- nor to the Presidential press briefings, either.


Talon's unusual access to the White House has upset journalists at other small outlets who don't enjoy the same privileged connections. "We're a weekly newspaper with a circulation of 22,000 and I'm pretty sure we couldn't get a White House press pass," says Mike Hudson, editor of the Niagara Falls Reporter in Niagara Falls, N.Y. "How does Gannon, which isn't even his real name, get past security?" Hudson wrote to Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., asking her office "to look into how a partisan political organization and an individual with no credentials as a reporter -- and apparently operating under an assumed name -- landed a coveted spot in the White House press corps."


Frankly, any self-respecting journalist who ISN'T pissed off either ought to have his head examined, or he's already also on the take from the Bushistas.
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