April 03, 2005
National Press Club Brings back jeff Gannon
He's Back! Jeff Gannon / James Guckert is back at the National Press Club.
Yes, the same day that the prestigious Washington, D.C., journalism organization plans to present a lunch talk by former Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee, it will also allow the former White House reporter/escort to be on a panel discussing bloggers and online journalism.
Jesus - this guy is talking about real journalists like me? First he's a fake national corrispondent. Now he's a fake blogger and online journalist. No - this guy is a republican paid fraud.
Gannon, whose real name is James Guckert, resigned his job with the conservative Talon News last month after it was revealed he had used a pseudonym, had little journalism background, and had ties to male escort Web sites.
It wasn't ties to male escort sites. He owned gay male porn sites and advertized himself as a gay male whore.
Still, Press Club leaders will include Gannon on the panel April 8 that includes Wonkette.com editor Ana Marie Cox, National Journal's John Stanton, and others. Gannon has been asked on numerous occasions about charges that he worked as a prostitute, and has refused to deny them.
Gannon told E&P today that he always considered himself a legitimate journalist, and "perhaps their invitation is recognition of that."
It is in recognition that the rest of the journalists there are whores too. They are merely Republican surrogates that report the news the Neocons write for them.
Press Club President Rick Dunham, who also covers the White House for BusinessWeek, called Gannon "a figure in the news" who is involved in an important journalistic issue.
And they say bloggers have no journalistic standards!
"The panel came together because we wanted to discuss some issues that came about from the Gannon case," said Mike Madden, a Gannett News Service reporter and a member of the Press Club's Professional Affairs committee, which is organizing the free event. "So we thought, why not try to get him?"
The issues they should be discussing is why they are covering up for him and trying to legitimize this fraud. The real story is why there is no story.
Gannon's ability to gain access to regular daily White House briefings, despite not being able to obtain a permanent "hard pass" or a congressional press pass, sparked new discussions among reporters and White House staff about who should be granted regular access.
There is a simple system when it comes to White House access. You have to sell your soul to the Devil.
"The idea was talking about these issues and who should be allowed to set up shop [as a legitimate journalist]," Madden told E&P. "It is not intended to be a forum for [Gannon] to present his side unchallenged. It is going to be moderated and there will be others on the panel."
As if these guys are going to tell us who is a legitimate journalist.
When asked if giving Gannon a spot on the panel wrongly legitimizes him as a journalist, Madden disagreed. "It depends on how you look at it," he said. "He is there because the panel is presumably going to talk mostly about his case. He was, in large part, the central figure in the case that got us interested in the topic."
Maybe they sould invite O. J. Sompson to a women's conference to speak on domestic violence?
Dunham said "journalists should be given a chance to question him." Reminded that many reporters had interviewed Gannon in the past month, Dunham still believed his presence would be good for the event. "I want us to be on the news," he said. "I think it is better to have people ask any question they can ask."
The Press Club's Web site, however, does not tout the event as focusing on Gannon but rather as a discussion about the differences between "bloggers" and "journalists." In other words, it is a journalism panel, not a press conference featuring, say, a politician or author in the news.
There is not different between bloggers and journalists. The issue is the difference between the Washing Press Corpse and journalists.
John Aravosis at Americablog, which highlighted the Press Club event on Monday, wrote: "What is GannonGuckert doing there at all? Like he's an expert on the difference between blogging and journalism? How so? He thinks journalism means parroting press releases and transcripts. As for blogging, again, he started a so-called blog 3 weeks ago and now he's representative of all bloggers?"
John Aravosis at Americablog should be there instead of Guckert! John is the blogger that EXPOSED Guckert as a fraud. So instead of inviting the journalist to speak - they invite the fraud!
Gannon told E&P he "thinks it is a good opportunity for me to speak to issues related to bloggers." He also added that he was, "trying to stay out there where people can see me."
The above picture will help people see you. You're no more a blogger that you are a White House corrispondent.
Dunham hopes to have the panel covered by C-SPAN, but said no final decision by the cable channel had been made.
"There has been a passing thunderstorm of interest in this," said Julie Schoo, who handles logistics for the press club, but she did not have details of how many people have signed up to attend.