White House Asked to Explain Role of Website Reporter in Briefings

Cox News Service

By Scott Shepard

In a letter to President Bush on Wednesday, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., called for an explanation of how a Talon News reporter who used the pseudonym “Jeff Gannon” was admitted to White House briefings.

Gannon resigned late Tuesday amid a flurry of accusations about his professional credentials and links to the Republican Party.

“It appears that ‘Mr. Gannon’s’ presence in the White House press corps was merely as a tool of propaganda for your administration,” wrote Slaughter, a senior member of the House Rules Committee who has been active in media fairness and ownership issues.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said he had not seen the letter from Slaughter, but dismissed her suggestion that Gannon was allowed into White House press briefings to help promote Bush’s political agenda.

“She must not be following the briefings too closely because she’d see that here are a number of people in that room that are advocates,” McClellan said. “There are a number of people who express their views in that briefing room.”

But liberal bloggers allege that Gannon is, in fact, James “J.D.” Guckert, and that Web sites such as hotmilitarystud.com, militaryescorts.com, and militaryescorts4m.com, are registered to the same owner as Gannon’s Web site, jeffgannon.com.

All the sites are down and not accessible.

Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz told CNN on Wednesday that the liberal bloggers may have gone “too far” in investigating Gannon’s personal life in the weeks since he asked a question at a presidential press conference that included criticism of Senate Democrats and, thereby, attracted national attention.

But John Aravosis, who operates the AMERICAblog Web site, where the allegations about Gannon are summarized, said in response to Kurtz that his probe of Gannon was motivated by “the family values hypocrisy.”

He also condemned him regarding the outing of Valerie Plame. According to the Washington Post, Gannon’s name was among those of journalists targeted for questioning by the federal prosecutors investigating the White House leak of an internal CIA memo that named former U.S. ambassador and Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson’s wife as a covert CIA agent.

In articles and in questions posed to McClellan at the briefings, Gannon was frequently unflattering in his portrayal of Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic nominee for president in 2004.

For example, in detailing Kerry’s ties to organization’s advocating expanded legal rights for gays, Gannon wrote:

“Inasmuch as Bill Clinton is considered by some members of the African-American community to be ‘the first black president’ because of their perception of his positions with regard to minority issues, Democratic Sen. John Kerry might someday be known as ‘the first gay president’ were he to win the White House in November.”

Aravosis also questioned why the White House, with the country at war, would allow almost daily access to press briefings to someone using a pseudonym. “Isn’t that a national security threat?” he said.

Responding to questions about Gannon attending White House press briefings, McClellan said, “I don’t think it’s the role of the press secretary to get into being a media critic or to get into the role of picking or choosing who gets press credentials.”

McClellan noted that Gannon did not have the so-called “hard pass” designating regular White House beat reporters but rather a daily pass that required Secret Service clearance with each entry to the White House compound.

“The daily press pass, my understanding from the staff is, they check to make sure that they are a news organization that publishes regularly and they have to go through a clearance process like anyone else who comes to the White House,” he said.

But Slaughter, in her letter to Bush, said the White House should address the issue of Gannon’s involvement because of “the mounting evidence that your administration has, on several occasions, paid members of the media to advocate in favor of administration policies.”

The most notable incident of such payments involved conservative radio/TV host Armstrong Williams who received money from the Bush administration to promote the “No Child Left Behind” education reforms.

“I was already concerned about what appears to be an organized campaign to mask partisan propaganda as legitimate news by your administration,” Slaughter’s letter to Bush added. “That we have now learned this same type of deception is occurring inside the White house briefing room itself is even more disturbing.”

Gannon, in some instances, reproduced large portions of White House press releases in stories without changing anything or attributing the White House. And the stories were posted on Talon News as well as GOPUSA.com, a Web site that is operated by a Texas-based Republican Party activist, Robert Eberle.

Gannon has previously acknowledged on his personal blog, but not the news site, lifting verbatim from White House press releases, stating: “In many cases, I have liberally used the verbiage provided on key aspects of the issue because it is the precise expression of where the White House stands – free of any ‘spin’.”

Talon News did not respond to e-mails requesting comment. Eberle, its editor-in-chief, issued a statement saying: “I understand and support Jeff’s decision, and have accepted the resignation. We are currently evaluating candidates to fill this critical assignment, and anticipate minimal interruption of Talon’s coverage of our nation’s capitol and the White House in the meantime.”

Some of the stories Gannon wrote for Talon have been removed from the Web site.

Eberle could not be contacted Wednesday.

Gannon also could not be reached Wednesday. His Web site has shut down. But in an announcement posted there Tuesday night, Gannon said, “Because of the attention being paid to me I find it is no longer possible to effectively be a report for Talon News. In consideration of the welfare of me and my family I have decided to return to private life. Thank you to all those who supported me.”

Reporting under a pseudonym is, in most cases, “a flat out deception,” and one that needs to be explained to the news consuming public, said Kelly McBride, the Ethics Group Leader at the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists in Florida.

And while “having an agenda” or even financial ties to a political organization should not be automatic disqualifications, McBride said, “the White House shouldn’t be putting in ‘ringers’ to prevent the White House press corps from performing its watchdog duties.”

“You have a changing media environment right now,” said McClellan. “We have a number of different media outlets that used to not be around … and if the question becomes where do you draw the line – that’s not an easy issue to address in this day and age.”

Meanwhile, Democratic activists began a petition drive at democrats.com, seeking the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate any links between Gannon and the White House press operation.