Fake Journalist Reporting Fake News from the White House!

Okay, now that's been said here's what's been happening:

The ever prescient Frank Rich, one of the few journalists not afraid to mention post modernism is his column, sums up beautifully the Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert saga, which is all the talk in media circles here in DC.

So apparently a fakeo reporter for this web site, who has been linked to this site, was able to get a White House press crediential for the last two years. What makes this extraordinary isn't the fact he got into the White House (yes, even I can get into the White House) it was that he got a permanent credential when he couldn't even get a Congressional press credential. The former requires two background checks, both the FBI and Secret Service, which takes up to three months. Okay. The Congressional press pass requires a warm body, an ID and a letter from a news organization sanctioning the reporter in question. That process takes about 20 minutes.

Now Mr. Gannon/Guckert was able to attend press conference with the president and in this town, lacking the sparkling glamour of LA, that's considered a big deal. He got his place at the expense of another reporter or new organization because seats when the president addresses the crowd are hard to come by. Much like the opportunities for press to even directly question the president.

Unfortunately, what has prevented this story from becoming a front page issue is journalists' reticence to write about, well, other journalists. I know many are mad at what's happened, especially since this calls into question journalistic standards, but you wouldn't be able to tell by the few stories running in papers about this. Take Mr. Kurtz's Sunday column or the Wolf Blizter interview with Gannon/Guckert. It seems the bloggers and media watch groups have been the best coverage of this story and managed to avoid the stupid liberal/conservative bias agenda journalists have to contend with.