WaPo's Froomkin on Gannon - excellent summary of media response

[papau]

SCANDAL in the Press Corps -- WaPo's Froomkin on Gannon

As posted by DUer grasswire in GD/P

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/politics/administration/whbriefing


Title: SCANDAL IN THE PRESS CORPS

Lots of good info.

[Cha]

1. Could we please get four paragraphs

for those who don't want to register?:)

[Ninga]

2. Yes, PLEASE give us a few paragraphs. I think it is critical

that we continue to keep this thing afloat and give it "legs"

[FormerDittoHead]

3. excerpt.

BUG ME NOT STOPPED WORKING, so I registered anyway and got it overwith (at least it's not the "Pickeyune Dispatch" wanting my email)


EXCERPT:
The rise and fall of "Jeff Gannon," the pseudononymous conservative partisan who bragged of working "behind enemy lines" in the White House press corps, is turning into the media scandal of the week.

But what, precisely, is the scandal? That depends on who you listen to.
===========

The Facts of the Case

It's worth calling attention to the things we think we know for sure.

Gannon -- I'm going to call him that for now, since I'm used to it -- worked for a Web site called Talon News, and his writings appeared on that site as well one called GOPUSA.com, both of which were operated by Texas Republican activist Bobby Eberle. On his personal Web page, Gannon had a section called "Behind Enemy Lines: Stories from Inside the White House Briefing Room."

Pretty much every day, Gannon got cleared into the White House briefing room by a press office that knew his real name. Press Secretary Scott McClellan frequently called on him during the mid-day briefings, using his fake name. McClellan was consistently rewarded with questions that -- in stark contrast from most of what passes for questions in that room -- were more expressions of conservative dogma than actual attempts to elicit information. Members of the press corps individually confronted Gannon and told him that he didn't belong there. But nothing more serious than that happened -- until Bush called on him at his televised Jan. 26 news conference and he asked a loaded, inaccurate question partly derived from a Rush Limbaugh joke.
=================
Howard Kurtz writes in The Washington Post: "The conservative reporter who asked President Bush a loaded question at a news conference last month resigned yesterday after liberal bloggers uncovered his real name and raised questions about his background.
=============
It's a very long article, however, 4 paragraphs aren't going to do much good per terms of posting...

[Cha]

7. Thanks, this gives me something..

a lot more than I expected of the wp, actually.

Maybe I'll register now that I have more time.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

10. .

[CottonBear]

4. Use Kos's registration info:

e-mail [e-mail] password: dailykos

He's registered most everywhere.

[Cha]

8. Thanks, I try that!

[diamond14]

5. good....slowly, but surely, this scandal is growing legs.....

gannon is such a slap-in-the-face to any legitimate reporter,left or right....certainly there has to be a simmering OUTRAGE among REAL journalists....especially after finding out that while they get MEAGER reporter salaries, bush shills get $ 240,000 ANNUALLY to hype bush* 'leave-no-child-behind'.....that's got to hurt.....


IMO, this scandal could EXPLODE sometime soon....

:nuke:

[seafan]

6. More of Gannon's *questions* from the WH briefings....

May 10, 2004: "Q In your denunciations of the Abu Ghraib photos, you've used words like 'sickening,' 'disgusting' and 'reprehensible.' Will you have any adjectives left to adequately describe the pictures from Saddam's rape rooms and torture chambers? And will Americans ever see those images?

"MR. McCLELLAN: I'm glad you brought that up, Jeff, because the President talks about that often."

July 15, 2004: "Q Last Friday, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report that shows that Ambassador Joe Wilson lied when he said his wife didn't put him up for the mission to Niger. The British inquiry into their own prewar intelligence yesterday concluded that the President's 16 words were 'well-founded.' Doesn't Joe Wilson owe the President and America an apology for his deception and his own intelligence failure?"

April 1, 2004: "Q I'd like to comment on the angry mob that surrounded Karl Rove's house on Sunday. They chanted and pounded on the windows until the D.C. police and Secret Service were called in. The protest was organized by the National People's Action Coalition, whose members receive taxpayer funds, as well as financial support from groups including Theresa Heinz Kerry's Tides Foundation.

"MR. McCLELLAN: I would just say that, one, we appreciate and understand concerns that people may have. I would certainly hope that people would respect the families of White House staff."

Feb. 10, 2004: "Q Since there have been so many questions about what the President was doing over 30 years ago, what is it that he did after his honorable discharge from the National Guard? Did he make speeches alongside Jane Fonda, denouncing America's racist war in Vietnam? Did he testify before Congress that American troops committed war crimes in Vietnam? And did he throw somebody else's medals at the White House to protest a war America was still fighting?"

[Cha]

9. This is what is happening no matter

what lies the chimphouse is hissing this week.

"Yet another example of the White House's attempts to avoid scrutiny, undermine the free and independent media, and use fake news and propaganda to manipulate public opinion."

And I'll tell you what's "despicable"..

"Glenn Reynolds, a University of Tennessee law professor who writes on InstaPundit.com, said the tactics used against Gannon "seem to me to be despicable.'"

..that guckert goes into the chimp's press conference ..using a "fake name"..getting called on to ask a question and tells a "loaded, inaccurate question partly derived from a" oxyrush "joke"!

[intheflow]

11. My favorite exerpt:

Kelly McBride, an ethicist at the Poynter Institute, a journalism school, sees problems everywhere... Wirzbicki and Savage quote him saying that the investigation of Gannon's personal life crossed traditional boundaries and was characterized by "mean-spiritedness and snarkiness. . . . Those are not tactics you would see practiced in most traditional newsrooms."

Ohhhh, nooooo.... mean-spiritedness and snarkiness aren't traditional newsroom values. Just ignore everyting FOX and CNN ever said about Clinton or Kerry. :eyes: