NEWSHOUNDS (New Yorker on Gannongate: "blatant sycophancy")

[Goldmund]

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The unusually blatant sycophancy of the question naturally drew attention to the questioner, and in the weeks since a curious story has emerged. Jeff Gannon, the reporter for the news service called Talon News, turns out to be “Jeff Gannon,” a “reporter” for a “news service” called “Talon News.” His real name is James Guckert. He is not a reporter but a propagandist and (even though his “news reports” have often featured appeals to anti-gay bigotry) apparently a part-time male escort, whose registered Internet domains include hotmilitarystud.com. Talon News is not a news service but a front for gopusa.com, a Texas Republican Web site. Because of this, the Congressional press galleries, which issue the standard Washington press passes, refused to accredit him. Even so, he was for two years a regular at the daily White House briefings, where Scott McClellan, the press secretary, frequently called upon him when the going got tough. (“Go ahead, Jeff” was McClellan’s standard cry for help, as the invaluable Web site MediaMatters has documented.) The premises of “Jeff’s” question to the President were false, gleaned from the alternative universe of right-wing talk radio.

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more:

http://newyorker.com/talk/content/index.ssf?050228ta_talk_hertzberg