Remember James Guckert, a.k.a. Jeff Gannon, the male prostitute-turned-conservative blogger-turned-White House briefing regular? When he emerged on the scene last winter as the White House correspondent for GOP-connected TalonNews.com, his ability to get into both press briefings and several Bush news conferences sparked a firestorm of controversy that even had some members of Congress calling for hearings.
The investigations never really went anywhere and Gannon eventually left Talon News, which later shut down its site after details of his checkered past blanketed the Web. He still blogs on his own site, and writes occasional editorials for gay newspapers, but has stayed away from the White House.
In the wake of his well-over-15 minutes of fame, however, Gannon managed to raise the issue of how Web-only reporters or bloggers should be treated when it comes to White House access. After Gannon was regularly given a daily press pass for two years, some were concerned that allowing him in would open the gate to anyone with access to a Web site. Fears ran rampant that anyone with the $35 to buy a domain name could get within a few feet of the president.
Others saw this as an opportunity for bloggers and others who write for less-than-mainstream Web sites to go beyond complaining about Washington politics and do something about it by trying to put White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan on the spot.
Momentum seemed to be building in that direction in March when another blogger, Garrett Graff of www.fishbowldc.com, was credentialed. A month later, Eric Brewer of BTCNews.com joined the fray. Scott McClellan called on Brewer as recently as Oct. 13.
"My view at the time was, 'let 'em in,'" said Ron Hutcheson, who covers the White House for Knight Ridder and served as president of the White House Correspondents Association during the Gannon flap. "I wondered if we wouldn't get a whole bunch, but the fear of a bunch of people getting credentials is no reason to keep them out."
But has the online onslaught occurred? Since the Gannon/Guckert saga first erupted last winter, the wave of Web writers has not appeared. White House press regulars say few online types have been crashing the daily press party.
"Things are pretty much what they've always been," McClellan told me in mid-October, noting that Brewer appears to be the only recent online-only participant. "From my own perception, it is not something I've noticed." Adds Hutcheson, "I am not aware of anyone from the blog community or online who is there."
Mark Smith, an Associated Press reporter and current White House Correspondents Association president, agreed that the takeover by bloggers never materialized. "I was frankly expecting a deluge of people, but it hasn't happened," he said.
Smith added that the lack of interest may stem from the fact that the press briefings are not all that interesting, and can be seen on C-SPAN, with transcripts on the Web: "Maybe bloggers have better things to do, after the novelty has worn off."
Brewer, who is a full-time environmental technician in his other life, notes that many bloggers go online for fun and need to work at real jobs during the day. "People are busy," he says.
That may be a shame, since some bloggers, at least, have particular areas of obsession or expertise that can lead to unusual, and often good, questions.
Take Brewer, for example. What is BTC.com? He describes it, rather vaguely, on his site as featuring "political, cultural, and press commentary. Originally populated by a community of one, the site now features several additional contributors who have greatly expanded the range of subjects upon which visitors can find knowledgeable and compelling comment."
Brewer wrote a lengthy assessment of the bogus New York City subway terrorist plot, and when he got to ask McClellan a question about it, he made the most of it: "It's been reported that last week's New York City terrorism threat was a hoax, and it's also been reported that the informant who provided faulty intelligence was an Iraqi who had cooperated successfully with U.S. intelligence in the past. But apparently, this person has now disappeared. Does the President believe that the making of a false terrorist threat is, itself, an act of terrorism -- and that the person or persons behind last week's incident should be hunted down and brought to justice?"
Later that day, Brewer reported on his experience, printing his question in full, then concluding: "I didn't pay attention to Scott's answer. You can look at the transcript if you want."
Graff, who is now an editor-at-large for Washingtonian magazine but still blogs for fishbowldc.com, agreed that the daily briefings may not provide the excitement many bloggers and online writers crave. "The briefings just aren't that interesting on a day-to-day basis," he tells E&P, and admits he has not attended one since July. "There is not a lot of reason for bloggers to go."
Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is a senior editor at E&P.
