EDITORIAL – White House in scandal over fake reporter

In December, Pitt News columnist Michael Darling characterized Jeff Gannon, then a member of… In December, Pitt News columnist Michael Darling characterized Jeff Gannon, then a member of the White House Press Corps, as an ultra-right-wing reporter for the Talon News Service, who pitched the president such soft questions as, “Do you think that when he says these things, John Kerry knows he’s not telling the truth?”

Darling’s complaints against Gannon as a reporter were legitimate. What he and others — including White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan — didn’t know was that there is no such person as Jeff Gannon.

That’s right — he’s made up. Gannon’s real name is James Guckert, a fact that the White House credentialing process apparently didn’t discover. But several Internet Webloggers did. (And what kind of lame alias is “Jeff Gannon?”) These bloggers uncovered that Guckert not only used a fake name, but also allegedly had ties to sex sites. Gannon won’t confirm or deny allegations about his personal life, and swore off talking to the press yesterday.

Adding scandal to more scandal, Delaware’s News Journal reviewed court documents showing that Guckert may owe the state some money — about $20,000 in back taxes, fines and interest.

Guckert’s name has also been implicated in another ongoing scandal, the Valerie Plame case. Plame was a covert CIA operative until her name was leaked in 2003; there is an ongoing grand jury investigation into this leak. The New York Times reported yesterday that a three-judge panel ruled that two journalists will have to testify concerning confidential sources, despite their resolution not to. Failure to do so could lead to an 18-month jail term for the Times and Time Magazine reporters.

And Guckert somehow managed to wind up in this mess. Editor ‘ Publisher reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation questioned him concerning Plame.

But even without the sex, the money and the spy case, there’s still plenty to be outraged about. How did a man using a fake name get into what’s considered an elite press corps? Was the administration so eager to have an ally in the pressroom that it gave press credentials to the first conservative who asked for them?

Guckert has no journalism experience outside of his time at the White House, of course, and did not work for a legitimate news organization. Talon News had links to the Texas Republican Party, and its Web site was on GOPUSA.com. It should also be noted that, according to the News Journal, Guckert (as Gannon) was denied congressional press credentials in April because he didn’t work for a legitimate media source.

Despite the fact that linking Talon to the GOP was as easy as reading a Web address, the administration seems blindsided by these revelations about Guckert. McClellan claims he didn’t know that a man asking questions so fluffy that they floated was not, in fact, a real journalist. (Though considering the sometimes-toothless nature of the White House Press Corps, this may be a legitimate assertion.)

Currently, the White House Press Office is reviewing ways to change its credentialing process. The best way would be to allow journalists to monitor credentialing, with the accompanied background checks, of course. And if all else fails, they could always try Googling people’s names — at least it would work better than the current process.