When Armstrong Williams was outed as a paid sponsor of the Bush Administration last month, he was kind enough to inform us that he knew he was not the only "journalist" to receive payment. Sure enough, in the following weeks, others have been revealed.
This leads one to wonder, if there is a Maggie Gallagher for every Armstrong Williams, are there others for "Jeff Gannon" or "Talon News?"
The White House Press has been very quiet regarding the revelations about Gannon/Guckert. Perhaps it is because they don't want to pile on, or give the appearance of being on a conservative witch hunt. Perhaps they're too busy losing credibility in print and cable to bother themselves with a story which does nothing but erode their credibility as journalists. (Continued...)
Does anyone wonder if there's fire under this smoke? Just
who are these people in the West Wing, on Air Force One, and in the by-lines? Are there other, more subtle fake news agencies jockeying for positions of servility? Is the background information of all of the credentialed White House reporters collected in a public database that we can peruse?
There are a handful of blogs and web sites at which readers sign up to "Adopt a Reporter." When the same people follow a certain reporter's body of work, it becomes much easier to identify patterns of political leanings and propaganda. Perhaps it is time to add a new dimension to our community and gather volunteers to analyze the makeup of our "liberal media."
And whoever is assigned to Helen Thomas, I'm sorry but you'll have to sit in the back of the room and just keep your yapper shut.