The Bush administration's propaganda machine continues to unravel courtesy of \Jeff Gannon."" President Bush's hypocrisy is clear-he touts the virtues of open societies to other countries, but attempts to manipulate the media at home with people such as Mr. Gannon.
This hypocrisy was on display at a Jan. 26 press conference, during which President Bush said, ""there needs to be a nice, independent relationship between the White House and the press"" before fielding a question from Talon News ""reporter"" Jeff Gannon. Referring to congressional Democrats, Jeff Gannon asked the loaded question, ""How are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?""
Soon afterward the liberal blogosphere, upset with the softball question, launched investigations into ""Jeff Gannon"" from their living room computers. What these bloggers found is astonishing.
They discovered that Jeff Gannon is the fake name of James D. Guckert, who has no journalism training and works for a fake news organization called Talon News, which is linked to the Republican National Committee. This ""news organization"" is comprised of Texas Republican activist Bobby Eberle, Guckert and volunteer reporters and Republican activists. Talon News has more than a slant to news; many of Guckert's reports were simply Republican press releases repeated verbatim. So much for the ""nice, independent relationship between the White House and the press.""
Of course, it would not be a Washington scandal without sex. Mr. Guckert is also linked to gay pornography and escort websites such as www.hotmilitarystud.com.
How did someone like Guckert get a White House press pass? White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan claims Guckert was given a daily pass because he ""represented a news organization that publishes regularly.""
McClellan's reasoning quickly folds when one discovers Guckert was refused a Capitol Hill press pass because he did not represent a legitimate news organization, and that he was present at White House press conferences before Talon News even existed, when he was writing for the blatantly partisan GOPUSA, also run by Bobby Eberle. As yet, no legitimate reason has been established for allowing someone with a fake name, working for a fake news organization and having no independence from the Republican Party into White House press conferences.
Jeff Gannon is only the latest in a disturbing trend of the Bush administration attempting to control the media. In 2004 Karen Ryan appeared as a new anchor in fake news reports, since deemed to be covert propaganda by the General Accountability Office, hyping the President's Medicare prescription drug plan. Earlier this year we learned Armstrong Williams, a conservative commentator, was paid $240,000 by the Education Department to promote No Child Left Behind, a fact Williams failed to note in his numerous articles promoting the act.
In a similar situation, the Department of Health and Human Services paid $21,500 to columnist Maggie Gallagher and $10,000 to columnist Michael McManus to promote Bush's marriage initiative. Both failed to note they were being paid in columns which promoted the initiative.
The Bush administration's attempts to control the flow of information in a democratic society are disturbing because democracy requires a press free of government manipulation to provide accurate information for citizens to make decisions. President Bush undermines the democracy he so adamantly promotes by manipulating the media.
Nick Rotchadl is a junior majoring in political science and journalism.
