Interview of “Jeff Gannon” by NPR’s David Folkenflik
NPR:	I was prompted, as I think I mentioned in the e-mail, by the Armstrong Williams situation, where, y’know, different people have different definitions for journalists.  And I thought this might be a good chance to give you an opportunity to say, “OK.  Well, here’s, here’s how I think of myself.  Here’s the job I’m doing.”
Gannon:	Uh-hm.
NPR:	So, tell me a little bit about how you conceive of your job, and how you got into it, and let’s take it from there.
Gannon:	Alrighty.  Uh, how I see my job is that I need to, uh, report stories that I think are important and, uh, recently my responsibility has been to report on those things that, uh, don’t usually make it to the mainstream press.
NPR:	So, uh, play that out for me.  I mean, uh, you’re, uh,
Gannon:	I mean, for example, I’m, uh, I’m un--, unapologetically a conservative and there is a huge audience out there of conservatives whose, uh, whose issues very rarely get mentioned and certainly not treated properly when they do get mentioned in the mainstream press.
NPR:	So, without going into incredible detail, give me a couple examples of topics of stories that, er, that, y’know, you’re able to focus attention on in that way.
Gannon:	I think abortion is one of those issues.  Uh … the, I find the debate over abortion is, uh, certainly skewed in the direction that’s, uh, pro-abortion.  And, uh, also, uh, judicial nominees.  The issue very rarely comes up even though it’s of great concern to conservatives across the country and was a factor in the last Presidential election and many of the Senate races, but the only time you’re going to hear about it from most of my colleagues is when we’re talking about replacement for a Supreme Court Justice.
NPR:	Um, let’s talk a little bit about your outlets.  You have both, uh, TalonNews.com and also, uh, a radio show, is that right?  Can you tell me briefly about each?
Gannon:	I have an on-line, uh, webcast, uh, program every week on RightTalk.com, and it’s a free-wheeling hour of, uh, interviews and commentary.  I generally have somebody who is a member of Congress on to talk about issues of importance and issues of the day.
NPR:	So, you have a weekly radio show, and that lasts for how long?
Gannon:	It’s an hour-long show.
NPR:	OK.  And it’s a webcast, so anyone can, uh, sort of dial-up and listen.
Gannon:	It is a webcast, and you can either listen live at three o’clock on Thursdays or, it is an archived show so it is available at other times.
NPR:	OK.  And it’s also on TalonNews.com, is that right?
Gannon:	The … ?
NPR:	I’m just saying your writing, your reporting, is also on …
Gannon:	That’s correct.  That is correct.
NPR:	And that’s your primary outlet.
Gannon:	That is correct.  TalonNews.com is the primary outlet for my daily news articles.  Now, I do … I maintain [clears throat], excuse me, I do maintain a website, JeffGannon.com, where there’s a lot of information about myself, as well as, uh, I do news analysis and commentary.
NPR:	OK.
Gannon:	Lately, lately, it’s been featuring the media.
NPR:	Uh-huh.
Gannon:	The “news” has been the news—or at least how it’s gathered has been the news for, uh, quite awhile.
NPR:	So let’s, uh, go back to my original starting point, which is the question of, sort of, definitions.  How do you define both, first, your role, and then how do you define what a journalist is?
Gannon:	Well, I’m reporting news.  I, uh, I can’t report all of the news, and I have a great ability to pick and choose the stories I’d like to follow.  I get some editorial direction, and of course my beat is the Whitehouse, so it usually has something to do with what’s going on at the Whitehouse.
NPR:	Gotcha.  And so how would you define a journalist as opposed to, say, an activist, or a politician, or that sort of thing?
Gannon:	Well, a politician is, y’know, campaigning to be elected the, uh, … the … I’m sorry, what were the other choices?
NPR:	Like an activist …
Gannon:	Well, an activist is someone who takes a strong position and speaks in, in support of that issue or that piece of legislation, and I do neither of those two things—even though I do cover, extensively, stories that, that sometimes people are activist about.
NPR:	You’ve obviously gotten a little bit of attention in recent days over, y’know, I guess stemming mostly from the question—the press conference …
Gannon:	That’s correct.
NPR:	Um, what do you make of that?
Gannon:	Well, there’s a lot of different things going on there, but, uh, perhaps the most, uh, disturbing thing has been the, uh, the notion that there isn’t room for one conservative voice in the Whitehouse press corps.
NPR:	Well, the way it was posed by the people, some of the reporters I saw quoted, was that they said, y’know, “It’s not that he has beliefs; it’s that those beliefs are presented, and they’re … y’know, as questions.  He’s sort of, y’know, validly with a point of view, seemingly to support the President.
Gannon:	And, uh, there’s something wrong with that?  When everybody else is out there taking shots at the President, is it wrong to have a President that, er, a question that might favor the President?  And … but none of those people spoke to the times where I have been … asked questions that were critical to the Administration, particularly on abortion and judges.  Their positions have caused concern among conservatives and, uh, that was an important part of my story.
NPR:	Sure.  One of the interesting things about journalism, of course, is, y’know, nobody needs a license to do it.  Tell me about your life experiences before.
Gannon:	Well, I have spent a lifetime of writing—none for pay, unfortunately—and, un, and I’ve spent two years reporting at the Whitehouse.  And I have written a story every day, five days a week, for two years, and I think my journalism credentials are fairly well established as a result of that.
NPR:	Sure.  I was just interested in what else you’ve done.
Gannon:	Well, well, I’ve done a great many things in my lifetime:  I’ve worked for others, I’ve owned my own business, I’ve been a, y’know, a truck driver, I had, uh, wholesale experience, retail experience … uh, I’ve been out in the world.  And I, uh, have a great background to, uh, to have a critical outlook at the news.
NPR:	One of the things that was also raised was the notion of, uh, I mean my sense is, from reading your work and reading your website, that, y’know, you’re proud of what you do.
Gannon:	Absolutely.
NPR:	Why not do it under your own name?
Gannon:	Well, there’s … still unconfirmed reports whether I use a pseudonym or not.  And probably I would have addressed this question differently a week ago, until I had become the target of threats against myself and my family, and, uh, I’m reluctant to reveal any personal information.  This matter has been … The hate mail I’ve gotten and some of the website postings I’ve brought to the attention of federal officials to look into.  And, uh, it’s disturbing that the same people that are allegedly proponents of free speech have decided that I don’t have the right to my free speech.  And, furthermore, that these people have the right to deny the President the opportunity to call on anybody he wants to.  I mean … if it were a room full of me in, uh, in the briefing room, then people would have a legitimate complaint.  But it’s not, as a matter of fact.  It’s one voice that somehow the, the people who preach tolerance and diversity can’t tolerate.
NPR:	Again, one of the things that my editors have asked … would say, talk a little bit about identity.  I mean, a lot of times, there are people who are taking raps—whether they’re on the right like Armstrong Williams, or other people on the left.  Y’know, they do it by name, they appear on TV.  You appear in a web broadcast.  My understanding is, that, that when you’ve applied for various, uh, perm—my understanding is that you get day passes at the Whitehouse, right?
Gannon:	That is correct.
NPR:	And, so, you haven’t had to go through the degree of the security, whatever …
Gannon:	That’s not true.
NPR:	OK.
Gannon:	That’s not true.  Uh, I submit personal information to the Whitehouse, and they do the background check, and they let me in.  And, uh, I’m fully in compliance.  I don’t get any special treatment …
NPR:	No, no, no.  I wasn’t saying that you’re getting special treatment at all.  It’s just that …
Gannon:	Others have said that.
NPR:	I just thought it was a slightly different process.
Gannon:	Others have said that …
NPR:	OK.
Gannon:	… and I wanted to clear that up.  I’m not getting any special treatment that isn’t available to, uh, to others.  As far as the credentialing process, the … those who are responsible for doing credentialing, and that comes—see, the Whitehouse doesn’t do that.  It rests with the Congressional press galleries …
NPR:	Right
Gannon:	… and their criteria doesn’t reflect the changes in the media.  And it’s a discussion that’s, uh, a little beyond me because I don’t control … . Y’know, I’m in full compliance with their requirements for a reporter.  They have questions about our news service that need to be dealt with, and they will be in due course.
NPR:	And this is because they don’t understand the “new media” world?  Is that what you’re saying?
Gannon:	Yeah.  I believe that’s true.  I believe that their rules are outdated.  And, y’know, I’m not going to bash, bash those people over there.  That’s all done by committee and, like anything else on Capitol Hill, it takes a lot to change things.  They’re going to catch up, and I will be, I’ll be treated fairly when they do catch up.  And in the meantime, I’m going to continue to do what I do.  And, obviously, people like it.  People are paying attention, because I’ve gotten—in addition to the hate mail—I’ve gotten quite a bit of support from people across the country have written me and said, “Y’know, I’ve wondered the answer to that question, myself.  Thank you for asking it.”  So, there’s, uh, obviously, there’s a market for what I’m doing.
NPR:	Do you happen to know roughly how many ping strikes you get a week, or anything like that?
Gannon:	Well, uh, for TalonNews?  I, uh, I don’t.  Because one of the things with it is, uh, that I get both primary and secondary hits.  My stories are posted there, and they’re picked up by other websites, and they zoom around the internet.  So, I have no idea.  I know that it is distributed to over 700,000 people a day, with … through direct subscriber lists.
NPR:	Oh.  That’s a lot of people.
Gannon:	Well, yeah, we do have great reach, and that’s the beauty of the new media, is that, uh, it’s now wide open, and people have the opportunity … . They don’t have to rely on, uh, on whether you have cable TV or not, or satellite dish or not, or you live in a place that has, uh, only one newspaper, and now you can choose … You have so many other means to get information and, that’s, that’s wonderful.  And it’s disturbing that there are people out there that believe that that’s a bad thing, and the … some of the things that have been done to keep me from doing what I do seems to be headed in that direction.  And that’s unfortunate.
NPR:	I’ve been told that the name that you applied for some credentials with, uh, had been …
Gannon:	What, what … Would you stop for a moment—
NPR:	Yes.
Gannon:	I—
NPR:	And we’re not—look, we’re not broadcasting this as a live interview, so if you want to say—
Gannon:	I’m not going to answer that—I’m not going to answer the question no matter what name you throw at me, and there’s been like half a dozen names that have been put up there, and I’m not going to confirm or deny that—and whether this is for broadcast or not—because, frankly, …
NPR:	No, I’m just saying, my saying it aloud doesn’t mean it gets on the air.  It just … I’m asking … you can decide whether or not you want to respond, and that’s totally your right.
Gannon:	OK.
NPR:	 And I’m not going to badger you on it, I’m just going to ask you.
Gannon:	OK.
NPR:	OK?
Gannon:	Yeah.
NPR:	So, [laughing] the name that I was told that you’d applied for credentials with was James Guckert.  That might be a slight mispronunciation, but, uh, I believe it was G-U-C-K-E-R-T.  Is that your name?
Gannon:	Well, I would … Again, I’m going to decline to discuss that.  Uh, if, if that information is coming from the Senate press gallery, they’ve, um, y’know, they’ve, in, in telling you those kinds of details, they’ve already broken a confidentiality clause in the application process, and I’ll deal with them accordingly.
NPR:	Well, I’m not saying they did.  I’m just asking the question.
Gannon:	But I’m just telling you, if that’s, if they did tell you something like that, y’know, they’re, they have no right to do that.
NPR:	OK.  Secondly, uh, I understand what you said in terms of, y’know, you feel that you’ve got—I believe you—you said you’ve gotten a lot of unwanted, very hostile attention over the last, call it, five days, uh …
Gannon:	Um-hm.
NPR:	… y’know, to your question and to your presence, and that it’s been threatening.  So I understand over the last five days why you might want your privacy.  Prior to that, why use a pseudonym?
Gannon:	Well, there’s, uh, many people in this business who do that.  Perhaps, we’re not all born with a name that’s “commercial” or … y’know, I mean everybody, people in Hollywood do it.  Certainly, on-air personalities do it.  Uh, radio people do it.  A lot of print people use their own name.  But, uh, there are reasons to do such a thing, besides being part of a CIA conspiracy or having something to hide.  It could be a very innocent …
NPR:	Right.  So I’m asking yours.
Gannon:	… consideration …
NPR:	So I’m asking yours.
Gannon:	Well, I mean, it could be …
NPR:	Yeah, right.  I understand what it could be.  [Laughing]  I’m asking what it is.
Gannon:	Well, I’m not even, I’m not even going to acknowledge that it is a pseudonym.  So … but …
NPR:	Well, you’re an international man of mystery.  What can I tell you?
Gannon:	Well, these are reasons why people would do it, and it’s nothing to hide any … to hide anything.  It, it probably is just a commercial consideration, frankly, and, uh, …
NPR:	Well, if we’re talking hypothetically, help, help me understand what a commercial consideration would be.
Gannon:	Well, I mean, if, if, if you have a name that’s difficult to pronounce, difficult to remember, or difficult to spell, it has … it doesn’t have great commercial appeal.  And if you have the opportunity to, uh, to make it more appealing, and more memorable, then one would want to do that.  And there’s nothing wrong with that.  And, uh, the … someone’s, y’know, like Batman’s true identity really [laughing] doesn’t have anything to do with the story.  I have been very forthcoming about the fact that, uh, I, y’know, what my ideological background is, and the fact that I have never supported a campaign—that is, given money to a campaign, worked for a campaign, worked for anybody who was elected, worked for anybody who was running for election.  I’ve never been a candidate for anything myself, never worked, uh, …
NPR:	Sure.  You understand that, y’know, I’ve had to write about, any number of times about, or cover, political journalists before, and one of the things about knowing the person’s actual name is you can verify that what they say is true, and you can say so.
Gannon:	Well—
NPR:	  Y’know, on the air or in print.  You can say, “You know, there are no donations listed under Mr. Gannon’s name, or whatever” …
Gannon:	Right.  Well, you can be sure—well, these are one of those things you’ll have to take my word for.  My … I’m not affiliated … I don’t have any political affiliations, and those who want to attribute those kinds of things to me—they’re mistaken.  And, of course, it’s all on the basis of some kind of character assassination.  Look, I confess:  I’m a conservative.  It think that’s … I think that’s … that’s certainly more than my colleagues will admit, that they have ideological leanings that are reflected in their questions and their stories.  I mean, I’ve been … the whole point of this is that I’ve been upfront about how I pursue a story, the angle I take.  And my colleagues haven’t been this forthcoming, and they’ve criticized me for it, which is, which doesn’t reflect well on them.
NPR:	I hear you on that.  One of the things I’ve noticed in your reporting, on things like, uh, uh, I guess Ambassador Wilson and other stuff, is that you’re saying, “Listen, I’m doing real reporting.  I’m not simply just taking somebody’s surface word for it, somebody’s say so.”
Gannon:	Right.
NPR:	In a sense, you’re asking that of your listeners and your readers, and other journalists, to sort of accept that your motivations are pure—which I’m not questioning—even though there’s no way to be transparent about it, because they don’t necessarily know you are who you are, if you know what I mean.
Gannon:	Right.
NPR:	Do you understand my question?
Gannon:	Yeah, I do.  But, at some point, what’s the relevance of it?  Knowing that I skipped fifth grade in elementary school—is that important?
NPR:	It means you were a sharp guy at the time, but probably doesn’t have direct bearing on this.
Gannon:	I know.  And that’s, and that’s what really …
NPR:	But knowing that you’re actually—which I’m perfectly willing to believe—that you’re telling the truth about no donations and no contri—y’know, no political activity in life …
Gannon:	I … I …
NPR:	… that tends to support what you’re doing.
Gannon:	I wouldn’t give politicians a dime.  Once they get elected, they’ve got their hands in your pocket already and, believe me, I don’t want to encourage them.