There are two key stories on non-blog outlets now recapping the saga of Jeff Gannon, the pen name of a conservative journalist brought down by liberal bloggers — which in itself has sparked a controversy.
Joe Conason has a piece in the New York Observer that recounts the controversy in great detail, offering his perspective on it, concluding:
Imagine the media explosion if a male escort had been discovered operating as a correspondent in the Clinton White House. Imagine that he was paid by an outfit owned by Arkansas Democrats and had been trained in journalism by James Carville. Imagine that this gentleman had been cultivated and called upon by Mike McCurry or Joe Lockhart—or by President Clinton himself. Imagine that this “journalist” had smeared a Republican Presidential candidate and had previously claimed access to classified documents in a national-security scandal.
Then imagine the constant screaming on radio, on television, on Capitol Hill, in the Washington press corps—and listen to the placid mumbling of the “liberal” media now.
But he’s wrong there: the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz has an extensive balanced article recapping the entire matter. It’s quite complete. Americablog’s John Aravosis, who has been deeply involved in investigating Gannon, writes:”A really great story. And this totally breaks the story open. Once the Washington Post covers it, it’s difficult for others to say it’s off-limits.”
If so, it’s one more instance of blog reporting pushing a story into the mainstream media. As soon as one newspaper gets it, others want to follow suit to get it on the record. Then, typically, some outlets look for new twists. And television gets involved. This may not happen on this one since a news story has a flow and it may be all “reported out” by now, although mostly by the liberal blogs. Conservative blogs find it reprehensible. And some others in the middle fear it’s indicative of blog reporting gone wild.
One thought: With this story about allegations about an alleged male escort in the White House, it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “White House briefing room…”
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.