One day after the Pulitzers came out celebrating the best American journalism has to offer, we're going to go ahead and award the first Fishbowl D.C. Stinky Fish Award--given from time-to-time to the worst piece of "journalism" we come across.

Today's award goes to Des Moines Register and its article by Erin Crawford, "Is he Johnny Gosch?" touting the conspiracy theories that Jeff Gannon is actually the now-grown Jeffrey Gosch, who was kidnapped from Iowa in 1980 at age 12.

The final story concocted by the mother's private investigator supposes Gosch was kidnapped into a pedophilia ring, trained by the CIA to be a male escort/spy, then given a job as a White House escort to reward him for his service and/or silence him. Um, yea, of course, because the way that the CIA "rewards" its male escorts is by giving them jobs that require them to appear on television everyday for two years. Nice low-key profile there.

This is a story that Fishbowl D.C. has been pitched multiple times by multiple people over the past two months-and we never wrote about it because it's too crazy. AND WE'RE A BLOG! By definition we peddle in unsubstantiated rumors and gossip, and despite our almost complete lack of standards/objectivity/pants this was a story too crazy even for our tastes. For some reason, though, the Register felt it necessary to write a 1,890-word article enlightening their readers.

The facts, as Crawford lays them out: A photo taken over twenty years ago looks vaguely like a photo of someone else today. Jeff Gannon's name is similar to the name of the editor of the Register, James Gannon, at the time of the kidnapping. Oh, and bloggers and conspiracy theorists are convinced, CONVINCED I SAY, that they're the same people.

The counterclaim: Beside all of the obvious holes in the story, Gannon's twelve years too old to be Gosch. Not a year or two. Twelve. More than a decade. That's three presidential terms. It's been confirmed that James D. Guckert (his real name, of course) graduated from college in 1980-two years before Gosch was kidnapped at age 12. Now you could say the FBI/CIA/Trilateral Commission/Enron was able to fake his college records, but if you think back to the original GannonGate, a key factor in his unmasking were his college fraternity brothers, i.e. the people he met while actually attending college.

And even with all of its 1,800 babbling words, you know what's missing from the Register's article? Any comment from police or authorities who investigated the crime-or any mention of what they believe happened to the boy. The mother's claim that her son was abducted into a pedophile ring servicing powerful Washingtonians goes completely unchallenged.

With hack-dom like this being practiced by otherwise respectable organizations like the Register, it's no wonder why journalists are losing credibility with their readers.

So congrats Des Moines Register: You're up for a Stinky Fish.

Feel free to submit your own nominations for a Stinky Fish Award anytime: garrett AT mediabistro DOT com.