Reporter, Times Are Criticized for Missteps - WaPo

[TacticalPeek]

Reporter, Times Are Criticized for Missteps

Media Analysts Question Decisions by Miller, Newspaper's Editors Regarding Leak

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 17, 2005; Page A02

Media analysts assailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller and her editors yesterday for what they called a series of missteps and questionable decisions revealed in two lengthy articles about the problems of covering the CIA leak investigation while defending the embattled journalist.

Alex Jones, a former Times reporter who heads the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University, noted the paper's disclosure that Executive Editor Bill Keller had told Miller in 2003 she could no longer cover Iraq and weapons of mass destruction after some of her stories turned out to be wrong.

"If the New York Times does not trust Judy Miller to do stories in her area of expertise, what do they trust her to do, and why should we trust what she does?" Jones asked. "She's a great, energetic talent, but investigative reporters need to be managed very closely, and her characterization of herself as Miss Run Amok is something an institution like the New York Times can't afford."

Critics inside and outside the paper said they were amazed that Miller would not answer questions about her dealings with editors or show her notes to colleagues investigating the matter. They were equally surprised that Keller and Publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. left most legal decisions to Miller without pressing her about her conversations with I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's top aide, or asking to see her notes during the battle that landed her in jail for nearly three months.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/16/AR2005101601040.html

[fasttense]

1. Most people would have lost their jobs but not Judy

"Executive Editor Bill Keller had told Miller in 2003 she could no longer cover Iraq and weapons of mass destruction after some of her stories turned out to be wrong."

She was a very poor investigative journalist since everything she wrote about WMD turned out to be Wrong. But she kept her job? Reporters have been fired for less. If they had fired her when she was mucking around pretending to be a journalist and writing lies, well than Time would never have been dragged into all this.

[annabanana]

2. "amazed that Miller would not answer questions" ....?

"equally surprised that Keller and Publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. left most legal decisions to Miller without pressing her..."

Would that behavior surprise them if they knew that the bosses were in the same compromised position that she is?

The desire to avoid the BIG FAT LIE in the middle of the room is astounding!

[Judi Lynn]

3. Interesting remarks from a co-worker:

......Craig Pyes, a former contract writer for the Times who teamed up with Miller for a series on al Qaeda, complained about her in a December 2000 memo to Times editors and asked that his byline not appear on one piece.

"I'm not willing to work further on this project with Judy Miller," wrote Pyes, who now writes for the Los Angeles Times. He added: "I do not trust her work, her judgment, or her conduct. She is an advocate, and her actions threaten the integrity of the enterprise, and of everyone who works with her. . . . She has turned in a draft of a story of a collective enterprise that is little more than dictation from government sources over several days, filled with unproven assertions and factual inaccuracies," and "tried to stampede it into the paper."
(snip)

Great article. Thanks a lot.

[Garbo 2004]

4. That quote sums up her modus operandi and Pyres wrote it in Dec 2000.

And obviously the Times' editors/mgt ignored the fact that there were serious flaws in Miller's methods and reporting since she was allowed to continue in that manner.