Posted on 10/23/2005 3:18:31 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW YORK - The New York Times' ombudsman said the newspaper should review reporter Judith Miller's journalism practices to address "clear issues of trust and credibility" in her role in the CIA leak investigation. Miller's attorney called the newspaper's recent criticism of her "shameless."
Times Public Editor Byron Calame also said the paper should consider updating its ethics guidelines on using anonymous sources and quoted publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. as saying "there are new limits" on what Miller can do in the future.
Calame wrote in a Sunday column that the Times and Miller's Oct. 16 accounts of the reporting that landed Miller in jail for refusing to testify to a grand jury "suggested that the journalistic practices of Ms. Miller and Times editors were more flawed than I feared."
Miller went to jail for 85 days rather than testify to a grand jury investigating the leaking of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity. She was released Sept. 29 and agreed to testify after her source, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, released her from a promise of confidentiality.
Executive Editor Bill Keller wrote to Times' staff last week that Miller may have misled the paper by saying she was not one of the recipients of a leak about Plame's identity. Miller said that criticism was inaccurate.
"The Times needs to review Ms. Miller's journalistic practices as soon as possible, especially because she disputes some accounts of her conduct that have come to light since the leak investigation began," Calame wrote.
Calame noted Miller's assertion that she recommended to an editor that a story be pursued on Valerie Plame but was told there was no interest. Miller's boss at the time, Jill Abramson, said Miller didn't make such a request, and Calame wrote that he believed Abramson, now the paper's managing editor.
Miller's attorney, Robert Bennett, said on Sunday that the newspaper is trying to deflect criticism of its own coverage of the leak investigation by targeting the 57-year-old Miller.
"Judy did nothing that the New York Times did not want her to do," Bennett said. "They encouraged her to stay in jail."
"It's shameless. They should be praising her for doing what they wanted, for going to jail for 85 days to uphold an important principle, which she did," he said. "They are not treating her very well and I think it's very disgraceful."
Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis didn't immediately return a message seeking comment Sunday.
New York Times reporter Judith Miller speaks during the 2005 SPJ Convention & National Journalism Conference in Las Vegas Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2005. Miller, who was jailed 85 days for refusing to reveal a source, defended her decision to go to jail to protect the source and told a journalism conference Tuesday that reporters need a federal shield law so that others won't face the same sanctions.
Put the Plame on me, Boys!
Put the Plame on me.
Valerie Plame, left, and her husband, Joseph C. Wilson, sit in their convertible near the White house in this Nov. 18, 2003 photograph. Until three years ago, Joe and Valerie Wilson looked like another upscale couple in Washington, juggling serious jobs while keeping up with 2-year-old twins. He, a former ambassador turned international business consultant; she, an analyst for a Boston-based energy company - a working soccer mom. As it turns out, Valerie was a clandestine CIA agent and an expert weapons of mass destruction. The cast of characters in this latest tale of Washington intrigue _ the CIA leak investigation _ keeps growing as a federal prosecutor tries to sort out who told what to whom and whether any of it was a crime. (AP Photo/Vanity Fair, Jonas Karlsson, File)
Time Magazine journalist Matt Cooper arrives at Federal Court in Washington with his wife Mandy Grunwald in this July 6, 2005 file photo. Cooper testified about his sources in a government leak of a CIA agent's identity. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald arrives at the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Washington, D.C., October 14, 2005. (Jim Young/Reuters)
What the heck do NYT insiders know about the Plame blame game? Do they know something about Fitzgerald's investigation and possible recommendations for indictments, scampering as they are to pre-position themselves for blame outcomes? If they were certain of the fall of the Bush administration, wouldn't they be lining up behind Miller for Pullitzer Prize oversplash?
Curious.
This is pure unadulterated B.S.! Libby released Miller of that promise BEFORE she went to jail.
One liar trying to take down another!
The Times is trying to save its reputation among the liberals and leftists who make up most of the paper's subcribers.
I thought that was Greta Garbo with Joe Wilson. That has to be one of the dumbest magazine photos I have ever seen.
They must be assuming that Miller is implicated in something that will result in a nasty run-in with the Special Prosecutor.
I think if Miller had contributed to the downfall of anyone important in the Bush administration the NYT would forgiv murder, treason and expense account padding.
But the fact that she "forgot" a key meeting for which she had notes suggests it will be hard to prosecute people for defective memories. If they prosecute someone in the administration for memory lapses, why mot Miller?
Someone tell me why she is wearing glasses in that photo? Part of her "secret identity" costume...like the Lone Ranger. She really doesn't look very happy in that photo and Joe looks absolutely arrogant. Looking at his marriage record, I'd say his "term" is just about up.
I'm thinking that the NYT/Lib establishment is pulling a Clinton on Miller, discrediting her, destroying her reputation as a way of undermining imminent news that exonerates the White House. Its just a gut feeling though. The Left's recent bellicosity (e.g. Dean) strikes me as an indication of insecurity. If they genuinely knew White House indictments were imminent, I think they would feign objectivity, reserve, an attitude of patience, a sense of being above partisanship. But again I think they've shown their hand.....because they are mediocre tacticians.
What Happened?
Re-Education Camp !!!
They're eating their own, Kiddos ....
Any awards she received on her WMD writings were likely NOT during President Bush's Whitehouse.
The Libs think Miller had some special relationship with Libby and others in the Whitehouse. This, of course, is not permitted and, as a result, sets her up as the fall "guy" when Rove and Libby are not indicted.
Miller received her Pulitzer Prize in early 2002.
BTW, many seem to forget, but Miller was also one of those who was sent an anthrax-laced letter.
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