« Will 2006 Be The Democrats' Year? | Main | The Dilemna Of An Astros Fan & Political Junkie »
October 16, 2005
Judy Miller and The Times
Just a few short weeks after bigfoot New York Times' reporter Judith Miller's release from an 85-day stint in prison, the paper attempts an examination of her, and its own role in the Valerie Plame leak story.
The lengthy piece, cowritten by Don Van Natta, Adam Liptak, and Clifford Levy, centers on the difficult position the Times found itself in, by defending Miller's First Amendment right to protect a confidential source (now known to be Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby), while struggling with Ms. Miller's questionable reportarial ethics and behavior, and being scooped on the story by other news organizations.
The piece suggests to us that Ms. Miller is lying about whether Libby ever disclosed Valerie Plame's identity to her, given that some variation of Plame's name appears in two sets of notes from two separate meetings between Miller and Libby.
The article also intimates that there was no clear signal sent by Libby, via his legal team, that he didn't want Miller to testify before independent investigator Patrick Fitzgerald's grand jury, which leaves the obvious question, did Miller really have to go to jail?
Her detractors answer no, and suggest her doing time was merely a public relations "martyrdom", designed to rehabilitate her image and journalistic reputation, which were badly damaged by her role in the selling of Saddam Hussein's non-existent WMD threat before the Iraq War.
The article raises more questions than it answers, and only time will gauge the effect of this drama on Miller's and the Times' reputation. She sure doesn't seem credible so far.
Posted by houtopia at October 16, 2005 11:15 AM