Washington Blade Parts Ways With Jeff Gannon

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/newspapers/washington_blade_parts_ways_with_jeff_gannon_44172.asp

Following Executive Editor Chris Crain's departure from The Washington Blade, the paper chose Kevin Naff as his replacement this week. One of Naff's first decisions was to sever ties with columnist Jeff Gannon.

We spoke with Naff:

I made the decision...Basically, my concern is that he has a huge credibility problem, for obvious reasons, and if a member of my staff lied about their identity, lied about their name, lied to their editors, lied to their sources, I would fire them. I wouldn't publish them.

And this has nothing to do with his political beliefs. Our oped pages will always be open to members of the community of all political stripes. I will be reaching out to different conservative voices to get those folks inside the paper...Their views will be reflected in our pages, but I just think we can find better people to represent those views.

In response to Naff's comments, which we read to Gannon, he responded with the following email:

I am grateful that for the past year, the Washington Blade and its affiliated newspapers published my column. I believe that through it I spoke for thousands of men and women whose views are rarely represented in GLBT media. Further, I believe that I provided an important perspective on political and cultural issues for the larger GLBT community. Because of my association with the Washington Blade, new opportunities have arisen that I will continue to pursue. I wish the new editorial staff continued success.

n/t

The Blade will be a little less gay without him.

It bothers me that there hasnt been anything about him in a good bit.