Judy Miller, Liar
By now, you've probably read the "full accounting" of Miller's role in the Plame affair by the New York Times (here) as well as Miller's own first-person account (here). And it's clear that most 5 year-olds can lie better than this woman, whose only explanation for the most damning facts is that they involved someone else that she can't recall.
It's like borrowing a friend's car, smashing it up, and bringing it back only to suggest that someone else must've driven it and dented it up while you had it under your possession. Literally, in every respect, her story is unbelievable.
File the $1.2 million memoir under fiction.
The reaction has been swift and unforgiving. Editor and Publisher provides a great summary and says the New York Times must fire Miller to restore its reputation. The Booman Tribune observes that the articles raise far more questions then they answer. Seeing the Forest says her article clearly describes a woman obstructing justice, though in a way that may be difficult to prove. Kevin Drum calls her contention that she "can't remember who originally provided her with the name "Valerie Flame"... completely ridiculous." And Arianna says that Miller's mea culpa is the biggest anticlimax and the biggest journalistic sham since Geraldo cracked open the Capone vault back in the early 1980s.
And of course James Wolcott has his inimitable take.
Myself, I think the Miller affair is to the New York Times what the Bush v. Gore decision was to the Supreme Court: a sharply partisan escapade that deeply undermines the integrity of a great institution.
E&P is right: the NYT should fire Miller, and should have done so long ago.
What is your reaction?
I haven't trusted the New Yor
I haven't trusted the New York Times for a long time. I find both Times and Miller's behavior disgusting but not surprising. I only hope that the media and media consumers remember this incident instead and judge both the Times and other news organizations accordingly.
Keller
Miller is so self-deluded she may never admit the extent of her wrongs, to herself or anyone else. But if Bill Keller has a shred of dignity should resign his position. Right now.
It's Too Late
Its too late for the Times to restore its integrity so easily. Firing Miller would be nothing more than an empty gesture. The Times won't be credible on national nor international issues until the all the senior editors involved are fire, and any interest in the company is sold off by the Sulzeberger family. Even after all that, it will still take time and a lot of hard work before I will be willing to accept any factual reporting from the Times.
well
i really don't care if she resigns or whatever. many of us could discern simply by reading her articles that they were boloney and propaganda. there will always be another pawn.
the upside is her story is so unbelievable that i am positive fitzgerald barbequed her on the stand. maybe she was actually stupid enough to land herself a conspiracy charge. that would be way cooler than a Times mea cupla.
Miller and the NYT
The best way for the NYT to make amends would be for it to start doing its job. e.g., by trying to get to the bottom of the forged Niger documents, by laying bare the inner workings of the Republican lie and slander machine, by. even now at this late hour, going back and telling the story of how the whole sorry Iraq mess came about, not sparing their own inglorious part in making it possible.
Liar
I agree 100%. Miller is a bully and a liar and has done more damage to the Times than Jason Blair. If they don't fire her, I'll have to cancel my subscription again til they get new, competend editors and publisher.
Miller and NYT
"The First Casualty" came out a few years ago.
Good book, tells about how truth is usually the first casualty of
warfare.
A good backgrounder to understanding how government officials and
journalists end up in bed together.
The idea of a reporter with a security clearance isn't exactly new,
but it must have been incredibly frustrating for competing reporters
to get "big-footed" by Miller while embedded in Iraq.
"I've got clearance for that (secret info), but he doesn't."
Dave Porter
Strike Three
Miller nominally went to jail in defense of her principles. It's time for the NYT to defends its own principles and send her packing. Anyone not in complete denial should recognize that her abject hero-worship of Bush's neoconservative cronies and the White House Iraq Group impaired her judgment and her objectivity. Lapses of judgment by reporters are inevitable. The complicity or inattention of Miller's editors during her "war cheerleader" phase are of far greater concern. The NYT as an institution will undoubtedly survive Judith Miller, but strong action (termination and perhaps a lawsuit enjoining the inevitable "book deal") at this point would go a long way to restoring readers' faith in its willingness and ability to avoid becoming a mouthpiece for one reporter's personal agenda.
"Great institution?"
Are you talking about today's NYTimes? The once-venerable paper has been going downhill ever since "Junior" took over. JM is a spy and Junior either knew or suspected it and did nothing. He is to afraid that such a revelation would ruin his family's creation and he's probably right. So, he let JM turn the Times into a propaganda mill(er) instead.
Judy Miller, Liar?
How about Judy Miller, international war criminal?
Judy Miller
I hope and pray that Judy Miller is indicted on obstruction of justice charges.
NY Times
I scaled back my subscription to the NY Times from a 7 day a week subscription to a weekend subscription when the ombudsman for the NY Times started smearing readers who dared write in to question Miller's reporting. I then scaled back to a Sunday only subscription after the Time editorial board defended Miller repeatedly against Fitzgerald's investigation, asininely and disingenuously calling it a First Amendment violation.
Each time, I told the person taking my call that the reason for my partial cancellation was the coverage by and about Miller.
About 2 weeks ago, I had enough. Although I love the Sunday Times dearly, I wrote in to cancel it, making sure that the woman who took my call wrote down that I was cancelling because of Judy Miller, and that I would not be resubscribing until Miller was fired and/or Keller was fired and/or the NY Times gave a full apology to the public for its shameful reporting and defense of Judy.
I also wrote a letter to the editor, which (surprise surprise) they apparently did not publish, explaining my reasons for no longer subscribing.
It was a tough choice to quit the Times, and not one I am necessarily advocating for others. On the other hand, I wanted to at least marginally affect their bottom line in the hopes that declining reputation and sales would force the Board to step in, seize power from Sulzberger and Keller and change the tone here.
Fire her
Firing her is the only way for Times' management to demonstrate that their first commitment is to their readers and to the truth.
This whole escapade has revealed Miller to be more of an administration propagandist than a journalist. As long as the Times continues to willingly subsidize her in this activity the paper's role and relationship to this administration is entirely suspect.
Paper of record or propaganda arm? Now is the time to choose.
Upper Management Needs To Go....
And not just Judith Miller. This is not the first time that the NY Times has sucked up to the powerful and preyed on the weak (just ask Wen Ho Lee).
Time to cancel the Sunday subscription....
Judy Miller and Plamegate
I am appalled by Judy Miller's report in the New York Times, and sickened. As a long-time subscriber to the Times, I wrote them an e-mail and told them how appalled and disappointed I am. Judy Miller and the Times took their readers for a ride pretending to be leaders of the free press and instead being shills for the propadandistic war-making Bush administration. The Times has lost my trust and respect and Judy Miller is a disgrace.