The Judy Miller Media Hug-Fest - (LA Times)

[WillyT]

<snip>

It was Miller, more than any other reporter, who helped the White House sell its WMD-in-Iraq hokum to the American public. Relying on the repeatedly discredited Ahmad Chalabi and her carefully cultivated administration contacts, Miller wrote story after story on the supposedly imminent threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

Only problem: Her scoops relied on information provided by the very folks who were also cooking the books. But because Miller hid behind confidential sources most of the time, there was little her readers could use to evaluate their credibility. You know: "a high-level official with access to classified data." Ultimately, even the Times' "public editor" conceded the paper's coverage of Iraq had often consisted of "breathless stories built on unsubstantiated 'revelations' that, in many instances, were the anonymity-cloaked assertions of people with vested interests."

That's what makes the Judy Miller Media Hug-Fest so astonishing. Miller's refusal to testify to the grand jury investigating the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's name has catapulted her back into favor. Ironically, as it becomes ever more likely that she'll be jailed for contempt of court, the very affection for anonymous sources that landed Miller in hot water last year has become her route to journalistic rehabilitation. The Houston Chronicle rhapsodizes that "reporters such as Miller … are the front line in the struggle to maintain a free and independent press." Back at the New York Times, Miller's publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., assures us that everyone is busy "supporting her in this difficult time."

I'm as big of fan of the 1st Amendment as anybody, but I don't buy the new Miller-as-heroine story. When Judge David Tatel concurred in the D.C. Circuit's refusal to find any absolute journalist privilege shielding Miller from testifying, he noted, sensibly, that "just as attorney-client communications 'made for the purpose of getting advice for the commission of a fraud or crime' serve no public interest and receive no privilege … neither should courts protect sources whose leaks harm national security while providing minimal benefit to public debate." Few legal privileges are absolute, and it's appropriate for the courts to decide in cases such as this whether the harm of requiring a journalist to divulge confidential information is outweighed by the public interest in prosecuting a crime.

<snip>

Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-brooks6jul06,0,1169727.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

Great article. Whaddayathink?

:shrug:

[sasquatch]

1. I wanna see Judith Miller shivved in Prison

Sorry, it's time to torch the whorish media and kill off all the rats.

[Wetzelbill]

5. no let's not get out of hand here

It's not like her WMD fabrications resulted in anybody getting killed or anything.....

Wait. Nevermind.

[aquart]

8. Nuh-uh. NO martyrdom.

Just years of really bad food on tin plates.

[LiviaOlivia]

2. Good op-ed

"But I have another theory. Miller's no fool; she understood the lesson of the Martha Stewart case: When you find yourself covered with mud, there's nothing like a brief stint in a minimum-security prison to restore your old luster."

I am so angry and sick of the Bushshites, the GOP and all their enablers(#1 being Judy Miller). What a clusterfuck.

[Grateful for Hope]

3. I think the article is spot on

and,I hope that other journalists/commentators will begin to echo it's sentiments.

Thanks for posting this.

[autorank]

4. If Martha did months, Miller should do years. I don't care what the

excuse. And this woman started with Pacifica.

She and the rotten NYT have blood all over their hands. Had they opposed the bullship and covered the massive demonstrations enough other media would have done so as well.

And BTW, where were the media idiots when DOD has a $200 million disinformaiton campaign going prior to Iraq.

Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams, Dan Rather, CNN, NYT, Washington Post...they all fell for this...pathetic.

[ThoughtCriminal]

6. I will not "Knowingly" expose Judy Miller as a WH Agent

But I suppose it's common knowledge

[aquart]

7. I see her as a war criminal.

But that's just me.

[jimshoes]

9. 5 minutes with an interrogator

in beautiful, sunny, tropical, Guantanamo Bay Resort and Health Spa would get Judith singing like a canary. (I hear the food is really good)

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Is there any doubt that Judith Miller acted upon pure partisan

loyalty to the Bush Administration? This is not a sign of an objective reporter, but one who is an operative herself.

[realFedUp]

11. Exactly

Glad you posted this...I would have.