Lautenberg Requests All Doc From White House Relating to James D. Guckert, A.K.A. Jeff Gannon

WASHINGTON, DC -- In light of yet another scandal involving the Bush administration's manipulation of the media, United States Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) today requested from White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan all the documents relating to the press credentials of James. D. Guckert, a.k.a. "Jeff Gannon"; the "journalist" now famous for being the White House correspondent for his softball questioning of President Bush and various Administration spokespeople.

"I am writing to request that you immediately release documents to my office relating to the White House press credentials of James D. Guckert, a.k.a. "Jeff Gannon." Specifically, I am seeking documentation related to the question of which name Mr. Guckert/Gannon used when applying for credentials, and which name was on the official White House press credentials he received," wrote Lautenberg.

"As you may know, Mr. Guckert/Gannon was denied a Congressional press pass because he could not show that he wrote for a valid news organization. Given the fact that he was denied Congressional credentials, I seek your explanation of how Mr. Guckert/Gannon passed muster for White House press credentials," Lautenberg wrote.

Senator Lautenberg has been the Senate leader in exposing the Bush administration's propaganda efforts.

I am writing to request that you immediately release documents to my office relating to the White House press credentials of James D. Guckert, a.k.a. "Jeff Gannon." Specifically, I am seeking documentation related to the question of which name Mr. Guckert/Gannon used when applying for credentials, and which name was on the official White House press credentials he received. Additionally, I am seeking documents indicating whether Mr. Guckert/Gannon received a "hard pass" or daily passes from your office. Despite your assertions to the contrary, at least one White House reporter has revealed that Mr. Guckert/Gannon appeared to have "hard pass" credentials.

As you may know, Mr. Guckert/Gannon was denied a Congressional press pass because he could not show that he wrote for a valid news organization. Given the fact that he was denied Congressional credentials, I seek your explanation of how Mr. Guckert/Gannon passed muster for White House press credentials.

I have led the effort in the Senate to investigate a number of instances of troubling propaganda efforts by the Administration. The Government Accountability Office has agreed to my requests to investigate various attempts at media manipulation: fake television news stories touting both the new Medicare law and the "No Child Left Behind" education program; a study rating individual journalists on their "favorability" to Republican education policies; and the payment to journalist Armstrong Williams.

Since the Armstrong Williams controversy became public, Administration payments to two other journalists, Maggie Gallagher and Michael McManus, have come to light. Given the backdrop of these scandals, coupled with Mr. Guckert/Gannon's role in recent White House press briefings and press conferences, it is understandable that the circumstances of Mr. Guckert/Gannon's credentialing have raised suspicion.

Brit: Jeff was the correspondent covering the WH for Talon News service and he's the subject of a Washington controversy. A NY congresswoman thinks an investigation is needed.

Bill Sammon: Re changed name. Works for Bob Eberle who is a Republican activist and $$ man. Jeff asked openly conservative and leading questions which rankles the reporters in the WH press corp who are mostly liberal and ask their questions from that perspective. It turned out Harry Reid never talked about soup lines. Liberal bloggers went after him. Found out he used a different name and that he registered some porn sites. He was a web developer who did those for a client and they were never launched.

Brit: He wasn't a pornographer.

Bill: Apparently not.

Jeff: This has been a difficult question in Washington - when you get official credentials or not. The WH follows what the standing committee does and it's very specific. You have to have articles that appear in daily newspapers but they've begun to expand their definition, although they are always behind the technology. The same thing is happening with bloggers.

Brit: This guy just had a daily pass.

Charles: Do you ahve reporters who do opinions in the WH briefings or do you have opinion shapers. It seems the answers are simple. You obviously are going to include opinion journalists because the idea that MSM reporters are objective is silly. If the WH briefing room turns up with bloggers who have ten readers, okay, you hav to triage. He also said something about Slate but I missed it.

Rest of transcript from Brit...

Thu Feb 10 17:53:05 2005
...large enough that one democratic congress woman from new york, louise slaughter, decided that some sort of criminal investigation might be in order here. Bill salmon, you frequent those precinct down there. What in the world is this? Who is jeff gannon, and what is this all about?

>> Well, his real name, first of all, is james guckerT. But he started working -- brit: It's an honorable tradition, you know. Good he started working for a thing called talon news, which is an online, openly conservative news service owned by a texas republican nmed bobby ebberly. Brit: Is he a politician or just --

>> I think he's a republican activist and a money maN. And he asked -- jeff asked openly conservative leaning questions at the daily briefings. This rankled -- what this is about is it rank led most of the reporters in the white house press corps, most of whom are liberal and ask their questions from a liberal perspective. Jeff got away with it until two weeks ago when he asked that question. Brit: Harry reed had never talked about soup lines.

>> It was an awkwardly and column silly worded questioN. He could have said how are you going to get your agenda through. But he was over the top and that's when the liberal bloggers and the liberal politics and the press and the democrats went after him. They found two things on him that forced him to resigN. One is that that was not his real name. And then the second thing was that they found out that he had registered some names of websites that seemed to be sexually explicit. Brit: About did the websites exist?

>> He worked for a software company before he came to washington and registered these names for the websites. The websites were never launched. For those two reasons -- brit: So he wasn't a pornographer.

>> Apparently not. But the ferocity of the attacks on him from the democrats.Com -- brit: What about this idea of jeff, of his credentials?

>> Well, this has long been a difficult gray area in washington. Years ago I was the president of the standing committee of correpondents on capitol hill -- brit: And those are the people who decide whether you get official press credentials or not, correct?

>> That's right, for the "daily press" gallery in the capitoL. But that was the leading validator of reporters. The white house usually followed what the standing committee did. And it was very explicit. You had to have articles that appeared in daily newspapers in order to qualify, essentially. Brit: Have they expanded that there to online publications?

>> This is a slowly moving, changing definition. It's always behind the technology. For example, when I was doing it, bloomberg news was not credentialed because it did not publish in daily newspapers. Once it started to do that, it became the standard for business news that it is now. I think the same thing is happening with bloggers. This is the first cutting edge of the change to take into account this new kind of technology. Brit: But this guy didn't get a full pass. He just had a daily pass. So what about this?

>> There are two issues here. Do you have in the white house a briefing room, journalists who are opinionated, or who do opinions for a living, or do you only have reporters? That's null one. And the second is do you only have the mainstream media, or do you have people who write online? Look, it seems to me the answers are simplE. You obviously are going to include opinion journalists. First of all, because of the assumption that the mainstream journalists are entirely objective is sillY. And secondly, why would you want to exclude -- brit: Helen thomas, for example, who just does a column.

>> Or the editor of the new republic or the nation or any other opinion magazine? On the other issue of online stuff, clearly this jeff gannon has been attacked by people who themselves write only online, which is itself ironic. But why would you want to exclude, for example, "slate" magazine, which is extremely respectable and interesting. If the white house briefing room fills up with bloggers who write for 10 readers, ok, you'll have a triage of questions, otherwise, allow the guy. Brit: That's it for the panel. Stay tuned to find out why it's not necessarily a good idea to agree with the president. That's next. . S a leap in unmanned systems...

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