Gannon falsely accused Media Matters of “waging an e-mail jihad” against MSNBC after Coulter called Gore a “total fag”

Written by Rob Dietz

Published

In a column published in the Washington Blade, former Talon News “Washington Bureau Chief” Jeff Gannon falsely accused Media Matters of “waging an e-mail jihad and internet petition drive against MSNBC” “hours” after Ann Coulter called Al Gore a “total fag.” In fact, Media Matters had posted the petition in question nearly two weeks earlier. In addition, the petition addresses “major television networks” and “the media” in general, not MSNBC specifically.

In a column in the August 11 edition of the Washington Blade, Jeff Gannon, the former "Washington Bureau Chief" for Talon News, wrote that right-wing pundit Ann Coulter's description of former Vice President Al Gore as a "total fag" made Media Matters for America President and CEO David Brock's “head explode.” Gannon added that "[w]ithin hours" of Coulter's remarks, which aired on the July 27 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, “Brock and his merry band of character assassins were waging an e-mail jihad and internet petition drive against MSNBC.” The Media Matters petition urges media outlets to stop providing Coulter and her ilk a platform to launch their venomous attacks. However, contrary to Gannon's suggestion, Media Matters did not first post the petition "[w]ithin hours" of Coulter's remarks. It was first posted nearly two weeks earlier, on July 14. In addition, Gannon is incorrect in his suggestion that the petition is targeted specifically at MSNBC. In fact, the petition addresses “major television networks,” and “the media” more generally.

Media Matters documented numerous instances in which former White House press secretary Scott McClellan turned to Gannon, whose real name, James Guckert, was uncovered by bloggers in February 2005, for softball questions, particularly during heated press conferences. In early 2005, after Media Matters and others raised questions about his work, Gannon resigned from Talon News. One week later, the Talon News website was removed from the World Wide Web. Media Matters has documented several instances in which Gannon lifted text directly from Republican sources. Others have also documented numerous times Gannon apparently lifted material from other sources, including a Massachusetts community newspaper, the Associated Press, The Boston Globe, and the Traditional Values Coalition.

From Gannon's column in the August 11 edition of the Washington Blade:

I swear that I heard Media Matters for America CEO David Brock's head explode, even though his posh George Soros-funded office is miles away from my Capitol Hill abode.

Within hours, Brock and his merry band of character assassins were waging an e-mail jihad and internet petition drive against MSNBC declaring, “Hate has no place on the airwaves.” The call to action prompted a barrage of vicious anti-Coulter postings from the usual suspects in the liberal blah-gay-sphere.