Phony Journalists

Jeff Gannon returned to the news today since he's pimping a book, which would seem an improvement over his previous pimping of himself as a male escort. Then you hear him speaking, however, and realize that his promotional strategy rests on the fact that for a few weeks back when the scandal of his even being admitted into the White House Press Corps broke, many real reporters disparaged him.

Gannon, whose real name is Jeff Dale Guckert, didn't qualify for a White House press pass, but was issued a daily pass for two years, even though he used the alias Gannon when doing so. He had no journalistic experience and didn't even represent a news organization of any kind when the White House began issuing him those daily passes, though he would later write for Talon News, a virtual organization with no office or newsroom, which was owned by the partisan website GOPUSA. Here's a video refresher of the scandal.

Gannon may have been the only faux journalist, but the Bush administration has been caught in other sleazy journalistic scandals, like paying journalists off to report favorably on administration policies. You probably remember hearing the name Armstrong Williams in connection with that, though there was also Maggie Gallagher and Michael McManus.

I get the feeling that there's more scandal surrounding the Bush administration and the press that we'll hear about in months and years to come.