Reporting Disparities
This entire story about James Guckert, aka Jeff Gannon, "reporter" for Talon [so-called] News, is certainly odd, not least because of his sudden retreat underground after speculation about ties he might have had to the White House. Was he, too, being paid to channel propaganda to an unsuspecting public?
But, there's an interesting divergence in the way the story is being reported; not in the basic facts, but in the end-of-the-column details. Apparently, bloggers uncovered Guckert's / Gannon's ownership of several "gay military sex sites". Now, here's where the differences show up. The mainstream press, as in this example from The Houston Chronicle:
By using an alias, Guckert concealed that as Jeff Gannon he was associated with a number of Web sites that had names with sexual connotations, including Militaryescorts.com and Hotmilitarystud.com.
leaves it at that: mentioning only that he was "associated" with these sites, implying that perhaps he has gone undergound out of–what?–embarrassment from his "association"? Perhaps he's really just a closeted homo, they imply, who ran some porn sites.
On the other hand, the gay press reports it differently, as in this example from 365gay.com:
A man accredited by the White House as a journalist has gone underground after being exposed as a fake, a possible a shill for the president, and perhaps a spy for the Pentagon trying to out gays in the military. […]
But, troubling questions remain unanswered. What has become of any membership list to his gay military sex sites? Were those sites created only to out servicemembers under "don't ask, don't tell"? Were any names turned over to the Pentagon?
This is quite a different viewpoint, suggesting that the "reporter" was in the pay of someone to try to entrap gay military men with the websites so that their names could be turned over and they could be discharged under the ridiculous don't-ask-don't-tell policy.
Of course, the reactionary Quixotes are out in force to protect Guckert's / Gannon's honor [i.e., doing their best to create cover-up smoke-screens] by wringing their hands and complaining about how he was "hounded" out of his journalistic work by a nasty bunch of liberal bloggers.
Oh dear oh dear! Given the breathtaking speed of his disappearance from public sight at the first hint that there might be a deeper story here, I'm starting to believe that the "hounders" have not done nearly enough "hounding" in this instance.