Gannon? How about Nover? Davis?

In a funny and informative piece that deserved page one but got the bottom of A-18, LATimes reporter Johanna Neuman dissects the Gannon story in a new light; she asks, what's the definition of a White House journalist anyway?

Neuman starts by pointing out that neither the media nor government want to, or dare to, define what a journalist is, then she lets us know it was liberals, not GOP fans like Gannon, that forced the issuance of the now notorious day press passes:

Marlin Fitzwater, former press secretary to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, said in an interview that he created day passes in response to a federal court decision in the late 1970s requiring the White House to admit all journalists unless the Secret Service deemed them threats to the president or his immediate family.

The lawsuit involved Robert Sherrill of the Nation, who was denied a press pass on the Secret Service's recommendation because, it turned out, he had punched out the press secretary to the governor of Florida.

Seems like a good reason to deny close access to the President, but that logic apparently didn't convince Sherrill.

Most interesting is Neuman's recounting of some of the others, besides Gannon and Sherrill, who have been "passed:"

• Naomi Nover of the Nover News Service apparently had no published work, but a "coif of white hair [that] somewhat resembled George Washington's wig." On a Reagan trip to China, she got through Chines security by showing guards a U.S. dollar bill as evidence of how important she was.
• "Lester Kinsolving, a conservative radio commentator, wore a clerical collar to White House briefings in the Reagan years. His loud voice and off-beat, argumentative questions often provoked laughter."
• "Citizen journalist" Sarah McLendon worked for a string of small newspapers in Texas. She was unafraid to blast government bureaucrats, and was often called on by Clinton when he wanted to change the subject or lighten things up.
• Evelyn Y. Davis covers the White House for a publication with perhaps less credibility than the now-defuct Talon News Servcie, her own corporate newsletter, "Highlights and Lowlights."
  

(Oh, and yes, they're still delivering the LAT to me. Interestingly, while the print edition downplayed the story, it is displayed more prominently in the online edition, as the lead "Nation" pick on the Home Page. Are they marketing to bloggers?)