Gannon has been gagged in the Press Room

[Emboldened Chimp]

After hurling several questions at Scotty about Gannon on Feb. 10th, the presstitutes have been mum on the subject ever since. I know they were talked to off the record by McClellan, supposedly about "credentialing", but my opinion is he told them to keep off the subject or have their own credentials revoked. What a cowardly piece of shit McClellan is. Fits right in to this administration.

[chicagojoe]

1. McClellan is just protecting his lover, Gannon.

[Nite Owl]

2. It's the press that are the

cowards. They shouldn't be listening to the administration tell them what to ask and report and it's clear that this is done.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. The press should walk off en masse

but they are too cowardly to do that

[havocmom]

10. Since all they do is parrot, we might be better off without them as echos.

And they are so afraid of being blackballed. What a bunch of wussies. When will they figure the WH needs them not the other way around?

Note to the press:
Hey, guys, be journalists and get your own stories. Rephrasing press releases and memes is NOT your jobs.

[calimary]

22. Just got off the phone with a friend of mine who still works at the big

networks. We used to work together a long time ago and have remained friends. He said they truly are VERY afraid back there. The news people are VERY afraid. Fearful for their jobs, their mortgages, their alimony payments, their kids in private school, their careers. Everyone's afraid to rock the boat. These bushies have done a whiz-bang job. And yes, EVERYONE is still very very afraid.

No wonder the bloggers are taking over. Too many of 'em, they're from everywhere and anywhere, and - well, if you're some guy sitting there blogging in his living room and you're unconnected to the big corporate power structure, obviously you answer to no one in it, and you're beholden to no one in it. You're not on a paycheck umbilical cord that could be cut at any moment. You're not dependent on any news chieftain or editor or producer or executive who'll send some ominously-worded memo down from "on high" to make you quake in your boots. You're beyond reach. You're not getting any company memos or directives or coverage guidelines or anything, nor do you have any obligation to follow same. You're a wild card. A free agent. And while kkkarl rove's fingers have a long reach and a deathgrip, he can't quite reach THIS far. And he doesn't have THAT many fingers, either.

No wonder the bloggers are driving this train. No way kkkarl or his minions can muzzle them all. And there are new ones popping up every day, plus visitors and friends and other interested parties who are more than glad to contribute (just consider the Daily Kos's cohorts). They're like the trail of ants that always seems to find its way back into the kitchen, no matter how often you fumigate, how much you spray, how rigorously you clean, or how vigilant you are.

[Jacobin]

26. If they are 'afraid' they are in the wrong business

They no longer get to use the word 'journalist'. They are talking heads and they ought to go to wall street and be brokers to pay their mortgages if they want to be whores, and move over and let someone with a little backbone be a journalist.

I have NO sympathy. It's a PROFESSION, not a job, and they are NOT PROFESSIONALS.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

29. They no longer get to use the word 'journalist'.

"And don't use any part of it either," he adds. "Don't use 'nest,' don't use 'egg.' If you're in the forest, you point, the bird lives in a *round stick*, and you have *things* over easy with toast!"

[calimary]

30. Frankly, I agree with you. I'm totally disgusted.

I am very proud of the bloggers. They ARE doing the job the conventional "journalists" of our day are merely tiptoeing around. It's really a disgrace. I mean, look at Bob Woodward. He and Carl Bernstein and the work they did on Watergate and the impact they had and the truth they ferreted out and the changes they wrought - all that stuff is what made me want to get into the business back in the mid-70's. They inspired me. You REALLY could work for the good, and for change, and fight the evil, and speak truth to power, and bring the bad guys to their knees if you were a journalist. But now? Shoot. It's the "journalists" on their knees.

'Fraid I don't have much sympathy either. I've been out of the biz for nine years. What goes on in it shouldn't embarrass me or make me feel one way or the other. But it does. I'm humiliated. Used to be proud to say I was a journalist. But now? Hardly. If the subject comes up, I usually start by apologizing for/about it.

[havocmom]

31. Letting the paycheck fear lead to dereliction of duty is a fools errand

They are still in danger, whether they dance to the junta's tune or not. There is NO SUCH THING AS SECURITY. I watch the talking heads and know at least some of them are aware of the damage being done. How can they buy into the illusion that they are somehow safe. Nobody is safe, so we might as well have some ethics. All else can be taken away.

There is no freedom where there is fear.

Hooray for the bloggers.

[Skidmore]

4. If the press had any cajones,

they would rebel. So they lose their credentials. A new crop goes in and does the same thing--rebel. Course this would take some organization, but it could be done. This admininistration is only successful so long as it is able to control the media. The stupid idiots don't realize they have the upperhand in this. That's assuming that they have care and have some sense of civic responsibility.

[Lindsay]

5. I often wonder

how many people...media people in particular...have been threatened by the administration. And what sorts of threats they've used. My gut feeling that threats are a lot of what they use to keep people under "control."

[calimary]

24. That IS what's happening.

I posted here a couple of months ago about a comment Michael Moore made during a local speaking engagement. He said he was being interviewed by Katie Couric on the "Today" show. He was complaining about the cowed media and such things as the eggs thrown at the presidential limousine during bush's first inauguration - that NOBODY saw until "Fahrenheit 9/11". And certainly NOBODY saw it on any network news coverage, anywhere. Nobody even knew there were protest crowds that large. Nobody even knew there'd been ANY at all. And Moore commented on this as he often does.

When they went to commercial break, Katie leans over to him and murmurs something to the effect of - "you know, you're absolutely right. We really haven't been doing our jobs." And she verifies that the press is intimidated. She goes on to say that once she had interviewed somebody from the bush White House on the show. Afterwards, a memo came down from "on high" - relaying a complaint. Evidently, the interview had provoked an angry phone call from the vice president's office, taking issue with the "tone of voice" that she'd used during this interview. So Moore says to her - WHY DON'T YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THIS?!?!? He said - you're Katie Couric, for chrissakes - you're one of three people in this country who can't be fired! Why can't you write some op/ed piece about this? Her response? "Someday, I will."

Okay, Katie Couric. Be a hero. Show some guts. NOT. Hell, even if she was fired, you'd think she'd at least have enough money socked away, and her union pension and insurance plans and what not so that she could still live in style and comfort if she was blacklisted for this. I mean, it's not like they pay her minimum wage...

But she wasn't about to rock the boat.

Plus, I'm betting there's the OTHER side to the how-to-train-your-dog manual these guys are following, too. Some Katie Couric-type gets a phone call, or a memo from "on high" after having toadied it up pretty good for whatever White House crap was spewed that day. The brass upstairs have now been made VERY aware that the White House has seen this, knows what was said, and VERY MUCH approves. (With accompanying perks or hints at some exclusive interview or seat at bush's table at the next State Dinner or some such little doggie treat thrown in as a reward). And the good doggie whose work earned this memo will not hesitate to suck air in the news room or in the makeup room or wherever, and show off the memo, and murmur in hushed tones about how The President is watching me and likes what I do! WHOA! Me hit jackpot! And others will see that and take note, and if THEY want bragging rights, too, or even the mere breath of a chance of any, they decide it's smart to do likewise. If for no other reason than that they know the network/station brass is hip to this, and probably more watchful about it, and if they don't get White House treats, they might get the key to the executive bathroom or something. Or an easy renewal when their contract comes up in a few months, or maybe a raise or plum assignment or promotion somewhere...

That's how it works. And - IT WORKS.

[mattclearing]

6. Here's an idea!

Maybe they should find their own facts and draw their own conclusions rather than tell us what the Administration told them???

:shrug:

[loritooker]

7. Good call, EB! nt

[papau]

8. Knight Rider fellow defended press room folks and procedure (on KO)- so

is Knight Rider in on this con?

And how deeply in are they?

[blm]

12. Funny, since it was Knight-Ridder reporters who were banned from Bush

and Cheney's press planes because they reported on the WH "cooking the intel books" on Iraq.

Those REAL reporters get banned while fake reporters get credentials.

[papau]

18. Perhaps the prior banning caused the slimy response last night?

Media does not take pain very well.

[Vinnie From Indy]

9. Jimmy Jeff "Gaggin" Guckert Gannon Mellen Cougar Camp

Say that three times fast!
I imagine somebody is "gagging" if Guckert is involved!

[K8-EEE]

17. LOL VINNIE!

Choked on my coffee! I think JimmyJeff should be his new DU name.

[calimary]

25. Don't forget "Member, FDIC" - and MOST certainly "viewer discretion

advised." "Your results may vary."

[liberal N proud]

11. That is how this regime has controlled the press

There have been several wh reporters sent packing because they did not quickly fall in line.
Campbell Brown on NBC was a WH reporter early in the bu$h regime and was kicked out, now she does Saturday morning fluff.

[calimary]

32. And look at Helen Thomas and what happened to her.

She asks some touchy questions and BAM! The Dean of the White House Press Corps(e) gets banished to the back of the room, and is hardly ever called on anymore. Used to be she ALWAYS had the first question, and the closing "Thank you, Mr. President" at EVERY press conference. That was the protocol. Now, she's been silenced.

Even worse, NOBODY in the White House Press Corps(e) ever stood up for her. NOBODY. I even wrote a letter to them complaining about it. Never got an answer back.

A TOTAL disgrace. They should be ashamed of themselves. They probably aren't, but they should be. Actually, some of them deep-down probably are. Probably wish they could. Katie Couric in the story I mentioned earlier probably does, when she examines her conscience. Or when they see shit that keeps coming down again and again and again and again and they think how maybe, just maybe, if they could work up the nerve, maybe they could stop it... but what's the use? Got bills to pay. Got a family to support.

The only people who could make a stand with something like this are the George Soros's of the world - independently wealthy and beholden to no one.

[DBoon]

13. They should dare Scotty to ban them

and make the banning the lead item in their next newscast/newspaper.

If they had any integrity whatsoever, they would turn the story into one about how the WH tries to manipulate the press.

If they had any integrity whatsoever....

[peacebird]

14. IF they had any integrity... unfortunately they don't.

[Benhurst]

15. "Jeff Gannon" was the only one in the White House Press Corps with balls.

At least he is the only one we know for certain has them. ;-)

[Vinnie From Indy]

19. LOL! Very Funny! n/t

[David__77]

16. What was Gannon gagged with? A ball-gag?

Sorry, but I saw his pictures and the headline conjured unsavory images!

[hatrack]

20. I was hoping for something like The Gimp in Pulp Fiction . . .

But I guess it was just another idle daydream.

[mattclearing]

21. Gannon gagged? I guess there's a first time for everything.

The possibilities are endless.

:toast:

[bklyncowgirl]

23. Gannon wasn't the only whore in the press room. nt

[angel54321]

27. Gannon Story on Catherine Crier

let me know if this link works. It was John for Americablog that was on yesterday and SHE GETS IT. She also said she will be following up on it. I wonder if she will say anything today. She is on now. Here is the link from yesterdays interview.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/02/16.html#a1607

[angel54321]

28. Have we exchanged "democracy "in Iraq

from "minders" in America now? UNBELIEVABLE!!!

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

==================
GROVELBOT.EXE v3.0
==================



This week is our first quarter 2005 fund drive. Democratic
Underground is a completely independent website. We depend almost entirely
on donations from our members to cover our costs. Thank you so much for
your support.