The president has made it clear that he’s not a big fan of questions. In his public events, Bush only considers inquiries from pre-screened, hand-picked sycophants who will challenge him with hardballs like, “How do you maintain your youthful good looks, Mr. President?”
White House press conferences, which Bush holds with record infrequency, therefore become the only time the president hears actual questions from people who aren’t a) adoring fans; or b) members of his hyper-loyal, always-agreeable staff.
As such, the trick for the White House is to make the press conferences more like the exclusive, invitation-only “Ask the President” rallies the president clearly prefers.
Enter Jeff Gannon at Talon News.
At one of the rare Bush press conferences, held earlier this week, there was one ridiculously slanted question — in basketball, I think it’d be called an “alley-oop” — complete with talking points literally provided by Rush Limbaugh.
Q: Thank you. Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy. Harry Reid was talking about soup lines, and Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet, in the same breath, they say that Social Security is rock-solid and there’s no crisis there. How are you going to work — you said you’re going to reach out to these people — how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?
Bush: Continue to speak to the American people. Right after my State of the Union, I think I’m going to four or five states to continue to address this issue. You know, I can remember President Clinton doing the same thing on Social Security. I thought he was very effective in teeing up the issue, of making the case. And I will do the same thing.
This pathetic exchange was made possible by a “reporter” named Jeff Gannon who works for a “news outlet” named Talon News.
The fact that the Bush gang has given Gannon entry into the exclusive White House press corps is absurd. The fact that the president actually calls on him during a press conference — and remember, questioners are chosen in advance — is truly pathetic.
Gannon is to journalism as bubble gum is to health food. He works for a group called GOP USA and has a website featuring the following welcome: “NOTE TO MY LIBERAL COLLEAGUES: Bush is here for another 4 years. Get over it! You threw everything you had at him, even phony documents and he still beat you. Give up.” As far the White House is concerned, Gannon is qualified to be a professional journalist asking the president questions.
This is the liberal media for you.
Media Matters exposed GOP USA as anything but a news outlet.
Although Gannon is a regular at White House press briefings and Talon News claims to be a news organization, Talon appears to be little more than an arm of the Republican Party. Talon News’ editor in chief, Bobby Eberle, is a Republican activist who served as a delegate to the 1996, 1998, and 2000 Texas Republican Conventions and to the 2000 national Republican Convention. In 1999, Eberle “was recognized with a unanimously approved resolution of commendation by the Republican Party of Texas for service and dedication to the Republican cause.” His biography on Talon’s website notes: “Bobby has devoted considerable time and energy to the Republican effort” and “Bobby is a member of Texas Christian Coalition and Texas Right to Life.”
Eberle is also the president and CEO of GOPUSA.com, a “conservative news, information, and design company dedicated to promoting conservative ideals” that carries articles and commentary by Gannon and Talon News.
And despite being an accredited member of the White House press corps, Gannon doesn’t even do his own reporting — he just takes Republican talking points, sometimes word for word, and puts his byline over them.
Talon News Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent Jeff Gannon, who accused his colleagues in the press corps of “work[ing] off of the talking points” provided by Democrats, has used Bush administration and Republican National Committee (RNC) documents and releases in his Talon “news reports” verbatim and without attribution. In at least two of his articles, Gannon lifted more than half of the text directly from GOP “fact sheets.”
Indeed, there are several instances during White House briefings in which real reporters will start to get aggressive with Scott McClellan — who then calls on Gannon as a “teammate” to help get him out of a jam.
This is utterly ridiculous. The White House briefing room should, at a minimum, be for actual reporters who work for actual news outlets.
Indeed, I should note that while Gannon is an obvious hack who sullies the briefing room with his very presence, the real fault here belongs with the White House. It’s not just that they see real reporters as adversaries to circumvent; that’s normal. It’s that they neither respect nor understand the notion of an independent media.
This is a presidency that creates publicly-funded propaganda (which looks like real news and goes out to broadcasters nationwide), puts pundits on the federal payroll, and then invites Republican Party activists into the press conferences, allowing them to “play reporter.”
The mind reels.