This morning I attended the National Press Club’s panel discussion on “Who is a journalist?” starring Jeff Gannon, aka James Guckert, and Ana Marie Cox, aka Wonkette. Also on the panel were bloggers Matt Yglesias and Garrett Graff, while the mainstream media were represented by the National Journal‘s John Stanton and the Baltimore Sun‘s Julie Hirschfeld Davis. Not being a member of the Club, I had to show my trusty photoshopped BTC News badge to get in. Everyone on the panel pretty much agreed that the question of the day was boring and that a journalist was anyone who really wanted to be one, though of course, when physical access is limited, then someone has to discriminate somehow. The biggest laugh of the day came when Jeff Gannon held up what was supposed to be a map of red vs. blue counties but which, because his printer had run out of red ink, was all in shades of green. Jeff got another laugh when he said, “You can hardly call Fox News conservative,” but he got only snickers of derision when he said something to the effect of “There’s nothing wrong with a reporter being paid to repeat administration talking points.”

At the end, the audience got to ask questions. My question focused on why he had stopped reporting from the White House. No one is preventing him from continuing to get daily passes. Obviously, he quit because the continued presence there of a right-wing gay hooker who posted pictures on the Internet of himself pissing was hurting the GOP, but he says that he quit because of threats that he and his family have received, presumably from vicious liberals. I asked him if he had reported these threats to a law enforcement agency, and, if so, which one? He claimed that he had, but refused to identify the agency.

The moderator cut off audience questions when there was still a long line of people waiting for a turn at the microphone. Among the disappointed was the guy I had been sitting next to in the front row, who turned out to be the editor of rawstoryQ.com, a radical gay news site. He didn’t take kindly to be excluded from the conversation, and he ran up to Gannon and began shouting out questions about whom Jeff had slept with in the White House. Jeff didn’t answer those questions either.

Perhaps the best line of the day came from Ana Marie Cox, who had earlier made the point that one reason Gannon got into the White House briefing room was because lately there have been a lot of empty seats, since mainstream reporters have largely given up on getting anything of substance out of the stone wall that is Scott McClellan. She went on, “I think it would be awesome if bloggers suddenly stormed the White House briefing room and filled all those seats and started asking questions. Then maybe your reporters would take the briefing more seriously, too.”

We’re trying, Ana, we’re trying.

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