Bill Olive/For the Chronicle Bobby Eberle, former aerospace engineer, operates two conservative Web sites out of his home in Pearland.
Posted on 02/18/2005 1:00:11 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Scandal places his Pearland-based Internet enterprise under a microscope
Until employing a reporter who used a fake name to gain access to the White House and insult Democrats during a nationally televised briefing, Bobby Eberle managed to keep a low profile while amassing a conservative Internet following.
Though Eberle was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2000, Texas Republican officials this week declined to talk about him and even denied knowing him.
But Eberle — a former aerospace engineer who has never contributed to a political candidate and works out of his $225,000 home in a sprawling Pearland subdivision of new, color-coordinated burgundy and beige brick houses — finds himself a key player in a tawdry scandal that has captivated Washington.
Eberle is the owner, president and CEO of two Web sites, the openly partisan GOPUSA (gopusa.com) and what he says is a nonpartisan news organization, Talon News (talonnews.com).
The sites hit the national radar when Talon's Washington bureau chief, going by the name Jeff Gannon, asked President Bush during a White House briefing last month about working with Democrats, whom he described as "divorced from reality."
Details emerge
That sparked the curiosity of Media Matters for America (mediamatters.org), a Web site that monitors conservative media. The group began scrutinizing Gannon, learning that his real name is James Guckert and saying that his stories were largely regurgitated White House press releases and his questions in White House briefings were softballs.
Bloggers linked Gannon to gay porn Web sites and prostitution. Naked photos of him and his Web profile of sexual preferences are in wide e-mail circulation.
Gannon is no longer with Talon News, and his articles have been removed from the Web site. He declined to comment for this story.
Eberle would not discuss Gannon, but he portrayed himself as a do-gooder who got involved in journalism and politics to spread information and the conservative message.
"I've loved to write my whole life, short stories, poetry here and there that my mom has saved," the newcomer to political punditry said in an interview.
In college, Eberle said, "I couldn't have told you the difference between a conservative and a liberal."
An engineer with Lockheed Martin until recently, Eberle became interested in politics after hearing about the violent 1993 deaths of Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16, at the hands of drunken gang members.
He was motivated to get involved, he recalled, because, "There's something really, really messed up in the world."
Eberle, who holds a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University and master's and doctorate degrees in engineering from Rice University, got involved with Young Republicans and worked on a losing 1994 congressional campaign. He was immediately hooked.
"This was a whole new world of issues and how they affect people," he said.
Witnessed 9/11 attack
Eberle said his interest was further heightened when, during a trip to Washington, he witnessed American Airlines Flight 77 crash into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
Eberle and friend Bill Fairbrother decided to combine their technical skills and political interest to create GOPUSA.
Fairbrother described Eberle in a recent interview as "very dedicated, very energetic and extremely intelligent."
"If he puts his mind to something, I certainly wouldn't want to bet against him," he said.
Fairbrother has decreased his involvement in the companies but remains on the board of directors.
Eberle's older brother, Bruce, runs a conservative Web site, Millions of Americans (millionsofamericans.com). The two sites joined forces in 2004, and Bruce Eberle started referring his readers to Bobby Eberle's site.
Bobby Eberle's wife, Kathleen, a neurologist, serves on the GOPUSA board. They have two children, Charlotte, 8, and 3-year-old Robert "Tres" III.
Public records show that Eberle has never donated to a political campaign, and the Texas Ethics Commission reports only one time that Eberle gave or received money from the GOP. He was paid $165 last year for travel expenses to deep East Texas to speak to the Smith County Republicans.
Several local Republican elected officials did not return phone calls regarding Eberle.
"I'm not going to comment because I don't know him, and nobody here does," said Sherry Sylvester, a spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Texas, when asked about Eberle.
How scandal started
Furor over Eberle's Web sites began when media critics realized that an unknown organization with few reporters and close ties to a partisan Web site was able to secure coveted White House press credentials. Astonishment deepened as details of Gannon's personal life began to emerge.
Media Matters has dubbed the scandal Gannon-gate.
"How all this happened still hasn't been sufficiently answered," said David Brock, president of Media Matters and author of four political books.
Brock said his organization's analysis of Gannon's questions over the past two years shows that White House officials called on him to change the subject when they faced intense questioning from other reporters.
The controversy comes on the heels of another Bush administration media scandal, over federal agencies' paying journalists to speak favorably about their projects.
Eberle said Talon merits White House credentials because of its large number of readers (he claims 500,000 unpaid subscribers), its regular publishing schedule and its differentiation between news and opinion journalism.
Media experts, though, dispute Talon's credibility and legitimacy.
They say the brouhaha has heightened an ongoing debate, in an age of ideology journalism and bloggers, about how journalism is defined.
Ethics expert weighs in
Kelly McBride, an ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, a journalism school, said the criteria for legitimate news organizations must include attempts to avoid conflicts of interest and biased reporting.
Ideological and opinion journalism could still meet this criteria, she said, but only if they are upfront about their stances.
Talon News, she said, is "using a journalism format, but they're not employing the practices of journalism."
Eberle claims that, although GOPUSA is clearly partisan, Talon offers unbiased news "without the liberal filter" that he believes mainstream media contain.
The two sites, though, are inextricably linked. Talon News contains only blurbs of stories. Users who want to read more are directed to GOPUSA.
"Talon News is not designed to be a destination Web site," Eberle said, explaining that Talon provides content for other Web sites, including GOPUSA. "The GOPUSA site is designed to be a destination site."
Eberle told the Chronicle that Talon's reporters are a mixture of volunteers and paid staffers, but he would not disclose how many reporters are on staff.
The three stories posted on the Talon site Thursday had no bylines or datelines and seemed to involve no original reporting, taking quotes from televised news conferences and news releases.
Eberle said his reporters have a range of experience, from those with 10 years of journalism experience to others who simply sent in writing samples.
Asked if he has any non-Republican activists among his reporters, Eberle said, "I don't really know. I mean, I don't think I have any Democrats working for us."
Appeal to kids planned
Eberle is unapologetically conservative.
His opinion pieces include one, written before the United States gave up the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that declared Saddam Hussein's possession of such weapons a "fundamental truth ... as dependable as the sun rising in the East."
Another of Eberle's works declared former President Carter, a Democrat, "should stick to picking peanuts."
Eberle is a churchgoing Catholic who is against abortion and in favor of prayer in school.
He believes religious people are "almost persecuted" in the United States.
Eberle is now focusing his attention on increasing his Web businesses.
He plans to start a Web site that will offer history lessons to children through games, facts and figures, and a yet-to-be-named petition site that will share users' views with Congress and others.
It will likely focus on conservative issues.
Eberle, saying he hopes the adage is true that there is no such thing as bad publicity, expressed astonishment at the glut of attention to his sites just as he is expanding his business. They have gotten so many hits in recent days that the sites have occasionally bogged down, he said.
Though his current goal is to grow his media companies, Eberle said he might run for public office "some day down the line."
rachel.graves@chron.com
Bill Olive/For the Chronicle Bobby Eberle, former aerospace engineer, operates two conservative Web sites out of his home in Pearland.
You and a lot of others.
If that's the case - MSM fails!!
Are you serious? This (talonnews.com) is not a serious site and is going down fast. What part of the Gannon/Guckert story do you not understand? If you need a source for conservative information, there are plenty of sites out there and anyone on this list would be happy to provide you with links. "Gannon"/Talon are dead meat.
Apparently, the MSM has retreated to muckraking and character assassination to protect what little influence they still possess.
And what brought YOU to Free Republic so recently?
It is amazing how the MSM is running this story down but they've NEVER run down the even more obvious left-wing control of HUGE media corporations. Instead they're going after little old Talon News like its a big scandal. What about Dan Rather, for goodness sakes? CNN? New York Times? Helllooooo?
Isn't it laughable?
And reported with a straight face.
>>Kelly McBride, an ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, a journalism school, said the criteria for legitimate news organizations must include attempts to avoid conflicts of interest and biased reporting.
Gee, if we're going to only have "legitimate news organizations" in the White House press room, and if that's the criteria, we're really going to be clearing the decks.
Thank you for the LINK.
It's hard to read but it must be seen.
Bump!
Public response after my private respnse: Yep, new to Free Rebublic; I also commment on dailykos.com as dilford. Not trying to trick anyone; just trying to be plainspoken.
Bump!
and I do know how to spell Republic...sorry
the criteria for legitimate news organizations must include attempts to avoid conflicts of interest and biased reporting.
If that's the case - MSM fails!!
Well, note the little weasel-word in the article, "attempts."
This article contains some serious rationalization for stifling independent reporting.
I didn't realize they were based in Pearland...I used to live there...was a member of the Pearland Republican Women...it's in Tom Delay's congressional district...just another reason to pay attention to it for me!
The MSM sure don't like the competition!
I do some work with Bobby and I know several of the contributers. I love the way this woman tries to slam them as not being "serious" journalists - almost all of them have degrees and have been writing for years. They are definitely not any more biased than any "journalist" in MSM. Jealousy rears its ugly head. The MSM senses their ultimate irrelevance.
"What part of the Gannon/Guckert story do you not understand? If you need a source for conservative information,"
What do you have a problem with concerning TalonNews?
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