Talon News Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent Jeff Gannon, who accused his colleagues in the press corps of "work
off of the talking points" provided by Democrats, has used Bush administration and Republican National Committee (RNC) documents and releases in his Talon "news reports" verbatim and without attribution. In at least two of his articles, Gannon lifted more than half of the text directly from GOP "fact sheets." Moreover, as Media Matters for America has pointed out, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh proclaimed that Gannon repeated a fabricated assertion of Limbaugh's in asking a question at President Bush's January 26 press conference.
From the January 27 edition of "Jeff Gannon's Washington" radio show on the conservative Internet radio website RIGHTALK:
GANNON: But what was very interesting, in his answer, was that -- that he's going to go to the American people. That was the first thing out of his mouth. That "Well, I'm going to take my case to the American people." Which told everybody in that room that not only was he not going to reach out to Democrats anymore, he was also going to go around the press corps, which, of course, deserves to be gone around because they're not telling the truth about Social Security reform. They continue to work off of the talking points provided them from the opposition. And I know that because I have seen some of my colleagues -- let's say one or two that I've actually witnessed -- read from DNC talking points on Social Security.
Following are three examples of Gannon lifting extensively from an RNC "Fact Sheet," a White House "Fact Sheet" and directly from President Bush in his "news reports."
http://mediamatters.org/items/200501280001