Thursday, May 04, 2006
Why I went to Philadelphia and met Jeff Gannon
"Mike, how can you do it?"
"Why give Gannon the credibility?"
"Are you nuts?"
These and other questions were posed to me while I was contemplating sitting on a panel on Media and Blogging for the Equality Forum with Jeff Gannon.
If you're a fan of the liberal blogosphere, you've probably read about the brouhaha around the panel. When Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend and John Aravosis of AmericaBlog decided not to participate due to what they said were restrictions on the topics to be spoken about, I was approached to serve as a replacement.
After speaking with Pam and others, I decided to do it. One friend said, "Mike, you're not exactly the kind of guy who would let a silly list of requirements bother you." That was the clincher.
The panel was a great opportunity for me to bring up questions on Gannon's work. Where is his accountability when there is proof of his plagiarizing previously published articles? And Was he ever at the White House when the day changed (at midnight)? (He answered neither.) I also loved that he referred to Matt Drudge, who I reminded the audience was yet another closeted gay guy working against our community.
There will be an article up at Raw Story later today with some exclusive video footage from the event shot by PoliticsTV.com and more details about the panel, including a response to my suggestion that Gannon debate me in DC. And, from what I've read, I'm a pretty good debater, well better than O'Reilly.
On the GLBT stuff I thought the panel was great. I was able to convey some thoughts about my work. In the end, I thought that the panel was fair and that my comments regarding Gannon's work were not inhibited by the moderator or other panelists.
Interestingly, I felt that my best moment of the night had nothing to do with Gannon or LGBT issues. When Ann Gordon, Managing Editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer said:
"It costs us $5 million to cover the Iraq war and it didn't increase circulation one bit."Well, Ann...had your paper bothered to report the NEWS, perhaps you'd do better on circulation, I thought to myself. When the chance to respond to the $5 million came up, I said:
"$5 million and we didn't get the Downing Street Memos?...,NOBODY could make the contacts to get the Downing Street Memo broken over here, and it took bloggers to do it."Oh, poor naive mainstream media. And, while Ann is defending the MSM...the Inquirer is busy handing over front page web space to no less than SEVEN blog links. And how does the Philadelphia Inquirer, spender of $5 million covering the Iraq war manage their blogs? On blogspot.com. And might I remind Ann that it was PageOneQ's reporting that resulted in their running an article about Robert Trayhnam, Santorum's communications director.
Before the panel, I had the pleasure of meeting Pam and her partner Kate for dinner. Susie Madrak of Suburban Guerrilla joined us too....What a treat.
A great evening.
Thanks to my car companions for the ride and support.
By: Michael Rogers
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