Daily News chief editorial writer Carol Towarnicky becomes one of incredibly few print journalists to opine on the answer to the question that bloggers started asking months ago: why has the main stream press dropped the ball on the Gannon/Guckert story?
... Just last week, a Freedom of Information Act search requested by two members of Congress revealed that Gannon/Guckert visited the White House 196 times - 39 of them days when there were no press briefings. While liberal blogs made much of the news, a Nexis search found that the Associated Press gave it only three paragraphs, which were picked up by only two newspapers nationwide. CNN mentioned the story only to say that the blogs had it. On MSNBC's "Countdown," Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank offered excuses for the 14 times that Gannon/Guckert's entries or exits weren't recorded by White House security and host Keith Olbermann seemed apologetic for bringing it up.
If reporters aren't worried about imposter journalists, at least they should smell a good story in a possible White House security breach. ... (read the whole column)
It is interesting how these inconsistencies either slipped by or were ignored by seasoned White House correspondents. As Towarnicky explains, it wasn't just a journalistic credibility issue, but also a possible security breach. What mystifies, and scares, me far more is that even after the blog community did all the heavy lifting on the story, so many "real" journalists are still unwilling to touch it.
