White House stirs debate on media tactics (Philly Inq. on Gannon)

[Goldmund]

The White House correspondent formerly known as Gannon has quit his job and acknowledged his real name, which is Guckert.

And his employer, a conservative Web site operated by Texas Republican activists, having already erased all traces of "Gannon," announced Thursday that it was unplugging its Web site to "reevaluate operations."

But the Jeff Gannon/James Guckert saga is far from over. It remains unclear how a graduate of a conservative training program, someone with no previous journalism experience, someone whose writings were often lifted directly from White House press releases, still managed to gain access to the White House press room, where he spent two years lobbing gentle questions at the press secretary and the President.

And some political analysts who monitor President Bush's relations with the media insist that Gannon (who, referring to Democrats, recently asked Bush, "How are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?") should not be viewed as an isolated case. Rather, they contend that Gannon is symptomatic of a broader White House strategy to undermine the traditional media by disseminating the Bush message in creative new ways.

more:
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/11009432.htm?1c

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Inquirer, not "Enquirer"

But half the time I myself wonder whether "Enquirer" might be a more accurate term.

I'm a long-time "Inky" reader, disgusted by my paper's recent Affirmative Action program for Conservatives.

--p!

[Goldmund]

2. fixed, thanks

[Mandate My Ass]

3. Yes the Inky has gone downhill.

I can't read it anymore. It's about time they addressed the Gan/Guck issue, they've studiously and very obviously ignored it even after other MSM outlets had reported on it.

I suggest checking out Ed Herman's site: www.inkywatch.org

He calls them on their obvious bias every week.

[Dogmudgeon]

5. Dick Pohlman addressed it this morning

And as you might expect, he softballed it.

There were also the obligatory "well, the Democrats have done it, too" quotes, so frequently used by the Inky these days that they must have it as a macro or an Auto-Text entry.

Thanks for the link -- I'll check it out.

--p!

[rocktivity]

4. So a "professional" journalist has finally figured it out?

I posted this here more than two weeks ago:

If (the Gannon scandal)...were an isolated incident, I'd be inclined to agree. But in the wake the Novak-Plame leak, those trumped-up public service commercials, the scripted press conferences, and the Armstrong Williams scandal (not to mention his claim that there are others), there is now legitimate reason to wonder if there isn't something bigger going on. Also, it puts us in a position to wonder if anyone in the mainstream media is involved.

Not bad for an amateur, huh? I think this reporter owes me a royalty!

:eyes:
rockantion

[AuntiBush]

15. Not Bad, Rockantion!

You gals and guys should join forces, start a news agency and become the heros we so desperately need.

[jmcon007]

6. Pretty Pig

Karl Rove is the only person I know who can put lipstick on a pig and have the corporate media fawn over her as Miss America.

[blue neen]

7. "Gannon, on the job, repeatedly got McClellan out of jams."

But the White House continues to assert the Gannon WASN'T a plant.
Right. And I'm Hillary Swank.

[MadisonProgressive]

13. Congrats on the Oscar!

[whathappened]

8. wtf why can't we stir up

any kind of press from this story , has the world gotten flat again with out me knowing it , all hell should be breaking lose and they are just shooting blanks

[Karenina]

18. 1950's redux

Check it out:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1626497

[EVDebs]

23. I agree with the tactics but defeating an entrenched OperationMockingbird

media-manipulation program that is sanctioned by the shadow government M/I Complex is going to take a little effort and we need to turn heads of INSIDERS. Whistleblower protection laws and vigorous first amendment defense is needed.

What do we have ? Journalists ALREADY on the payola roll cannot be entrusted to sole report this story. They abdicated that right years ago. We need to expose these OLD stories roots from the '70s beginnings during the Church hearings.

We can't let them get away with this. No way this time.

[deacon]

9. It should be stirring an investigation at least n/t

[K-W]

10. And it was all orchestrated by someone on the inside.

Because he got those passes.

Someone in the white house arranged for a plant at the press conferences. This is a freakin story damnit.

[wildwww2]

11. I`ve got it! Attach Bill Clinton`s penis to the story, Media whores won`t

be able to resist it then.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[MadisonProgressive]

12. From the article:

"Every president has sought to manipulate the media. But historians say that Bush, unhappy with what he calls "the filter," is courting controversy in his quest for innovative formats. Several conservative commentators have been paid to trumpet Bush policies in their work; one recipient, Armstrong Williams, is being investigated by the Federal Communications Commission. And two agencies have disseminated pro-Bush videos that look like TV newscasts, without disclosing the Bush sponsorship - a breach of federal law, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The White House has stated that these media decisions were made independently by the agencies."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BULL. This illegal activity had to be directed by people higher up than the agency level. Karl Rove written all over it.

[Al-CIAda]

14. I agree. Its a Rove operation -eom

[AuntiBush]

16. What is it abour Rove?

What this guy got? Fat, pudgy, punnie, repungnet looking man - very unassuming in appearance. Comes out of no-where (yeah... right), and all hell hits the fan. Out goes our freedoms, out goes our civil liberties, in comes Constitutional restructuring and SSI... when they attacked FDR I had more than had enough.

What amazes me the most, is how the Freepers buy into all this crap. Morons. Total, no-excuse, idiotic morons. Bu%h/Rover studied them well for eons. Sad stuff these days.

[psychopomp]

17. MORE from the article

Every president has sought to manipulate the media. But historians say that Bush, unhappy with what he calls "the filter," is courting controversy in his quest for innovative formats. Several conservative commentators have been paid to trumpet Bush policies in their work; one recipient, Armstrong Williams, is being investigated by the Federal Communications Commission. And two agencies have disseminated pro-Bush videos that look like TV newscasts, without disclosing the Bush sponsorship - a breach of federal law, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The White House has stated that these media decisions were made independently by the agencies. Nevertheless, former Republican strategist Jim Pinkerton, who worked in the administration of George H.W. Bush, says: "It's quite clear this White House is exploring radical alternative ways to getting its message out - through the aggressive hiring of flacks like Williams, and the presence, or even planting, of friendly so-called journalists like Gannon.

"The Bush people are challenging all the old assumptions about how to work the press. They are ambitious - visionary, if you will - in ways that Washington has yet to fathom."

Larry Gross, who runs the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California, says: "Richard Nixon hated the press, Bill Clinton hated the press - but they accepted the basic rules of the game. Bush has a strategy of discrediting, end-running, and even faking the news. Those prepackaged videos sent to local TV stations 'looked' like news, much the way Gannon 'looked' like a reporter. We're seeing something new: Potemkin-village journalism."

[Harlequin]

19. This story frames the event in the worst possible way...

It seems so short sighted and convoluted to leave the role of the press out of this... as if somehow the entire debate around Iraq, Social Security, and anything else the b. administration has lied about occurred strictly in dialogue between a gay-porn exponent/conservative activist and President Bush.

EVERYONE was asleep at the wheel. While I agree that massive bureaucracies tend more towards incompetence than conspiracies (See: robert steel, 2600 . com interviews), the press is always more interested in wars than not, and I can't help but think the lack of serious inquiry was neither Mr. Gannon's fault, nor Mr. Bush's to control. Simply put, those big companies are in well-heeled, tax-broken pockets that serve the interests of other corporate American interests.

It is the mainstream press that ought to be hung out to dry. We can expect Bushes to be Bushes, and Gannons to be Gannons, but we ought seriously punish the 4th Estates for devolving into the 1.5th Estate.

[The White Tree]

22. I disagree somewhat.

Our leaders take an oath of office to serve the people. That is not something they should do lightly.

While the Bushes may be the Bushes, if we accept that our leaders are corrupt and do not make the effort to hold them accountable then we cease to be a democracy. We rely on the press to brings us the information that helps us to make those decisions, but ultimately the power rests with the people.

Unfortunately we live in such partisan times that many are willing to overlook the flaws in the leaders of their own parties because it creates a perceived weakness.

[bookman]

20. Undermine the traditional media

Mission Accomplished

[The White Tree]

21. Do they ever teach journalists anything about irony?

The definition of Irony - The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.

So he writes: It remains unclear how a graduate of a conservative training program, someone with no previous journalism experience, someone whose writings were often lifted directly from White House press releases, still managed to gain access to the White House press room,

Seems pretty clear to me.

[troubleinwinter]

24. "And his employer, a conservative Web site operated by

Texas Republican activists..."

Gannon's employer, Bobby Eberle, on his website, GOPUSA, thanked KARL ROVE for his "personal friendship, assistance and guidance".

Gannon is connected to Rove, INSIDE the White House.

If Talon News was in any way legit, why, when ONE "reporter" quits, did the entire "news organization" fold up?

Real news organizations don't scrub every article by a reporter and fold up if a person leaves the organization.

[Jon8503]

25. We Need To Just Get Texas Out Of Our Politics; Dam Bush,

Delay and on and on and on.