Jeff Gannon

Jeff Gannon
Born
James Dale Guckert

(1957-05-22) May 22, 1957 (age 67)
NationalityAmerican
EducationWest Chester University of Pennsylvania
Occupation(s)Writer, journalist

James Dale Guckert (born May 22, 1957)[1] is an American conservative columnist better known by the pseudonym Jeff Gannon. Between 2003 and 2005, he was given credentials as a White House reporter. He was eventually employed by the conservative website Talon News during the latter part of this period. Gannon first gained national attention during a presidential press conference on January 26, 2005, when he asked United States President George W. Bush a question that some in the press corps considered "so friendly it might have been planted"[2][3] ("How are you going to work with [Senate Democratic leaders] who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?").

Gannon routinely obtained daily passes to White House briefings, attending four Bush press conferences and appearing regularly at White House press briefings. Although he did not qualify for a Congressional press pass, Gannon was given daily passes to White House press briefings "after supplying his real name, date of birth and Social Security number."[4] Gannon came under public scrutiny for his lack of a journalistic background prior to his work with Talon[5][6] and his involvement with various gay escort service websites using the professional name "Bulldog."

Gannon resigned from Talon News on February 8, 2005. Continuing to use the name Gannon, he has since created his own official homepage and worked for a time as a columnist for the Washington Blade newspaper, where he confirmed he was gay after he was outed.[7] Most recently, Gannon operated JeffGannon.com, a blog where he criticized those who exposed him, the "Old Media" and the "Angry Gay Left", accusing them of promoting a double standard.[8] The site has since been taken offline and the domain expired. He published a book titled The Great Media War in 2007.

  1. ^ U.S. Public Records Index Vol 1 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010.
  2. ^ "Congresswoman Asks for Probe After 'Gannon' Quits WH Reporting Post". Editor and Publisher. February 9, 2005.
  3. ^ Congresswoman Asks for Probe After 'Gannon' Quits WH Reporting Post Archived April 26, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Kurtz, Howard (February 19, 2005). "Jeff Gannon Admits Past 'Mistakes,' Berates Critics". Washington Post. pp. C01. Retrieved May 12, 2007.
  5. ^ Savage, Charlie; Alan Wirzbicki (February 2, 2005). "White House-friendly reporter under scrutiny". Boston Globe. Retrieved May 5, 2007.
  6. ^ Boehlert, Eric (February 15, 2005). ""Jeff Gannon's" secret life". Salon. Archived from the original on April 22, 2007. Retrieved May 5, 2007.
  7. ^ "Gannon comes out: Former escort, conservative reporter grilled on White House visits". The Raw Story. May 5, 2006. Archived from the original on August 31, 2006. Retrieved September 7, 2006.. "Rogers went farther: 'Are you a gay man?' 'Absolutely, but I'm not proud' Gannon said."
  8. ^ "Another Gay Martyr (Or Two) Is Born". JeffGannon.com. March 12, 2007. Retrieved May 8, 2007.