A Reporter on Gannon (Gate)

On Friday, I read a CNS News editorial about the Jeff Gannon flap. Amid the claptrap, I found an interesting point: "As a former television news reporter and producer in the nation's number seven market, I can tell you with first-hand experience that many of the 'journalists' you see on television or hear on the radio use different names while conducting their work."

Wondering to what extent that might be true, I asked a few reports I know. The responses I've gotten so far were not just to the question but to the entire CNS News editorial. CNS's Thibault asks if "the Left [was] more enraged by Gannon's lack of journalistic credentials and purported political bias, or because...he would have betrayed the liberal cause with conservative-slanted writing. There are other reasons about which one can argue that Gannon had no business working at the White House, but they fall flat when one considers the past and present practices of what we today loosely refer to as 'journalists.'" Thibault then makes the following three points:

1) Gannon's lack of journalistic experience: How many times have we seen entertainers with no past journalism experience plopped in the television or radio anchor chair to pontificate on the issues of the day and ask questions of guests?...

2) Gannon's use of a pseudonym: As a former television news reporter and producer in the nation's number seven market, I
can tell you with first-hand experience that many of the "journalists" you see on television or hear on the radio use
different names while conducting their work. 'Taylor' is easier to pronounce than 'Tetreault' for instance...

3) Gannon's use of loaded or softball questions at presidential news conferences: This is the most laughable excuse for the Left going loony over Gannon. How many times did Bill Clinton get softball questions from the adoring White House press corps, 90 percent of whom admitted to voting for him? Are we to believe that the David Brock-led Media Matters for America and his allies on the Left flipped out because one person asked President Bush conservative slanted questions in a forum that usually produces many more of the insulting and accusatory variety? I don't think so.

The first response I received:

Oh, boy. Well, first of all, on the minor point, yes, I've encountered some local TV news anchors and reporters who've gone by pseudonyms, sometimes for very good reason: There was an anchor at WLOX-TV in Biloxi when I was there who went by the name Steve Lawson. His real name was Steve Fondle. I don't doubt that radio people use pseudonyms, too. It's unheard of in print. I don't know about online sources.

The CNS News (pfffffht) guy is fucked on a number of points. First of all, yes, we've all seen non-journalists conducting
interviews or playing journalist from time to time. The difference here is that, say, Leonardo DiCaprio didn't pawn himself off as "Washington Bureau Chief, Titanic News Service" when he interviewed Clinton a few years back (something the wingnuts did go apeshit over at the time, incidentally).

Second, I couldn't care less whether he went by "Jeff Gannon" or "Steve Fondle" or "Abe Vigoda" or what, and I also don't particularly care whether he is or is not gay or was or was not tied to gay porn (although I do confess to finding that mildly gratifying). I care that, regardless of whether he used his real name, he obtained a White House press pass as a fake journalist for a fake news site that exists for the sole purpose of disseminating right-wing propaganda--period.

And that's what separates it from his last "point," the whole "well, the mainstream press is all a bunch of Democratic operatives who sucked Clinton's dick for four years, so what's the big deal?" The big deal is that, again, they're fucked: The press corps, whatever their failings, didn't belong to "The Mao Gazette" or the "Che Times." You can debate the Clinton dick-sucking all you want, but you can't deny the distinction between a reporter for NBC News and one for (insert Wingnut Online Publication here). "Gannon" (or whatever his name is) had one function only: Throw a monkey wrench into the journalistic process by greasing Bush's palm. That was why he was there.

And I think it rankles, too, since we've found out about all these commentators getting paid to shill for the Administration. "President buys favorable coverage"--that'd tend to make actual journalists rather antsy, wouldn't you think?

And I'm on an even higher level of annoyance than usual because my employer has informed me and my colleagues that
one of our goals for this coming year is to represent more conservative voices in the paper. Apparently some people
have complained to our editor about .... 'liberal bias.' And we're about to lube ourselves up and bend over. And I'm
about to get the fuck outta Dodge.

Comments, especially from journalists, are welcome.

UPDATE: Guckert used the pseudonym "Jeff" at least as early as 1999, when he was working on gay porn sites. Obviously, it's because "Jeff" is so much easier to pronounce than "James."