Americablog
Americablog first received widespread media attention after it revealed that Jeff Gannon, a member of the White House press corps with a reputation for asking "softball" questions at opportune moments for Press Secretary Scott McClellan, was actually James Guckert and had advertised his services as an escort.[4][5][6][7] In 2006, Aravosis learned that a number of commercial websites were selling people's private cell phone records, and that the practice was legal.In order to publicize what he considered a problem, Aravosis purchased the call records of former presidential candidate and Supreme Allied Commander of NATO General Wesley Clark for $89.95, and then published the records (with the numbers blacked out) on Americablog, bringing the issue widespread attention.[8][9][10] In September 2006, California passed a state law banning the practice of pretexting, or pretending to be someone else, used by the websites, with the bill's sponsor specifically citing the Americablog coverage.[21] In 2005, less than one year after its launch, Americablog was ranked fifth in page views among all political blogs in an analysis done by MyDD.