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ORGANIZATION A virtual organization with no physical office space or newsroom, Talon News is owned by GOPUSA . Robert Eberle is the president and CEO of both GOPUSA and Talon News. According to Media Matters, "Talon News apparently consists of little more than (Robert) Eberle, (Jeff) Gannon, and a few volunteers, and is virtually indistinguishable from GOPUSA.com. {Link without Title} . Initially, Talon News made its articles available on their website, but at an unverified time in 2004 , moved them to GOPUSA.com and simply re-directed visitors asking for the full news articles there with the statement "This story can be found on our #1 client -- GOPUSA!". On February 1 , 2005 in the midst of controversy, Talon News removed information from its Biography section regarding some of its employees, including the reporter at the center of the controversy, Jeff Gannon . {Link without Title} The Talon news site went entirely off line on February 23 , 2005 to "re-evaluate operations." CONTROVERSY Media Matters raised the question of Talon News' legitimacy with respect to Gannon's loaded questions and specious comments at White House press conferences, such as asking then President columnist Dan Froomkin noted in his February 19 , 2004 column that "Within the press corps, Gannon is known for asking softball questions." The Standing Committee of Correspondents, rejected Gannon's application for a Capitol Hill press pass because of Talon News'lack of independence from a political organization. Committee chairman Jim Drinkard wrote in his letter: :The application for accreditation to the press galleries states that "members of the press shall not engage in lobbying or paid advertising, publicity, promotion, work for any individual, political party, corporation, organization, or agency of the Federal Government." Talon News has not demonstrated to the satisfaction of the committee that there is a separation from GOPUSA/Millions of Americans.com. Jeff Gannon/James Guckert Main article: Jeff Gannon On was using a pseudonym, and his real name was James Dale Guckert {Link without Title} . This was later confirmed by Mr. Gannon/Mr. Guckert. Guckert submitted his resignation from Talon News effective February 8, 2005. John Aravosis, of web log '' AmericaBlog '', later revealed evidence that Guckert owned several websites offering homosexual prostitution services under the company name ''Bedrock Corp.'' AmericaBlog discovered that his websites and other escort websites featured online sexual profiles of Gannon, which included nude photos and information on how to obtain his services. [http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/02/man-called-jeff.html] On February 10, 2005, Guckert said in a CNN interview that Talon News is a legitimate conservative online news service. He also stated; "Talon News is a separate, independent news division. I work for Talon News. I write articles for Talon News". On February 20, 2005, The New York Times quoted Eberle, who said he had no inkling that Guckert had created pornographic Web sites or offered himself as a gay escort. If he had known, Mr. Eberle said, "I don't think I would have brought him on." SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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