home

Conason on Judy Miller

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Wed Jul 20, 2005 at 10:50:49 AM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

Joe Conason comes down pretty hard on jailed reporter Judith Miller. Too hard, or is he right?

< Sports Book Odds on Karl Rove's Departure : 1-6 | Cheating Prosecutors, Lying Cops, and Wrongful Convictions >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    Conason on Judy Miller | 14 comments (14 topical)
    Re: Conason on Judy Miller (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:26 PM EST
    I think Conason is 100% right about Judith Miller. She is no martyr for the First Amendment. She isn't really a reporter. She is a propagandist for the Bush White House. Let her rot in jail.

    Re: Conason on Judy Miller (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:26 PM EST
    Yes, Conason certainly raked Miller over the coals, but I think he really hits the nail on the head with this quote:
    But source privilege was never intended to protect powerful officials using the media to abuse their power and commit crimes.
    Re: Conason on Judy Miller (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:26 PM EST
    The questions that Ms. Millers incarceration raise are huge. The biggest for me, just exactly who is she protecting? Her motivations and ethics are sorely suspect as many more then just Mr. Conason has pointed out. At the risk of giving too much machiavellian credit to Rove & Co. just what if Ms. Miller isn't actually protecting anyone at the White House but rather herself. Being a pawn for the Bush admin. it wouldn't be overly hard to draw Ms. Miller into inappropriate conversations in which the White House could work up as a response and excuse for the Wilson/Plame leak. We have seen just that as one of the RNC talking points. The problem for Rove & co. is the timeline of the State Department secret memo that has been leaked pointing out that Valerie Plame a CIA operative on WMD's was in fact Joe Wilson's wife and had a hand in his appointment as a fact finder just days before Rove leaked. So they can not credibly use the "I was given the info by a reporter" excuse. I just can't believe that Ms. Miller went to jail to protect anyone other then herself and her own reputation and therefor deserves the bed she has made and the criticism that follows.

    Re: Conason on Judy Miller (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:26 PM EST
    Anyone who knows Joe Conason's work knows he's a fair-minded and thorough liberal commentator. If this is where he's coming down on Judy Miller, it isn't without having weighed all the known facts. I've tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, and most journalists I've talked to feel the same way. But I am starting to wonder whether she is really serving any kind of greater good in refusing to testify in this particular case, with this particular set of circumstances.

    Re: Conason on Judy Miller (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:26 PM EST
    Not hard enough Miller is no more a journalist than Rush Limbaugh and deserves no special consideration. If she ever talks she will likely implicate Cheney. For those who never read it, here's a link to Ed Said's review of Miller's book: http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=19960812&s=said

    Re: Conason on Judy Miller (none / 0) (#6)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:27 PM EST
    He's right, though I will say this, and I wish someone on the right would, as well. Arguing for the absolute shield is only logical when it is presented with this qualifier: the shield must be absolute because there will be times at first, in the heat of the moment, when those majority passions the founding fathers warned against are inflamed, when a confidential source appears to be involved in something illegal or criminal or damaging, but with reason and examination will be found to be a person acting purely in the public interest. As for Miller, it's obvious she is not protecting anyone but those engaged in conduct damaging to the nation.

    Re: Conason on Judy Miller (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:27 PM EST
    see Labyrinth13 Nail, meet hammer.

    Re: Conason on Judy Miller (none / 0) (#8)
    by Mreddieb on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:27 PM EST
    What bugs me is why J. Miller and Novak still have their jobs? I seem to remember how Dan Rather was forced out and so was Peter Arnett. Why do those who support this Mis Admistrations survive while others don't?

    Re: Conason on Judy Miller (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:27 PM EST
    I totally agree with Conason. Now that Ms. Miller has become part of the propaganda arm of the White House, I'll never be able to look at her byline again and think I am reading a *real* story. Not only that, if I were a real source with really juicy information, I certainly wouldn't give it to her knowing that she is simply a shill whose stories won't be trusted in the future. I know other readers are also looking at her brand of journalism in an entirely new light. The comparison to Rush Limbaugh seems to be increasingly correct, and he only bills himself as "entertainment." Ms. Miller and the NYT are doing a tremendous disservice to the journalism profession in my opinion.

    Re: Conason on Judy Miller (none / 0) (#10)
    by jimcee on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:27 PM EST
    I can't help imagine that the reason Ms Miller hasn't revealed her sources it that it might prove that most in the Washington press corp knew Plame was a CIA worker. For heavens sake Miller works for the NYTimes, and if her sources were from the Bushies she would spill the beans on them for the byline. I'm more inclined to believe that her source was from other press colleages, maybe Gruenwald's spouse, or perhaps any other of the Washington elite press mavens (hint: Andrea Mitchell et al). The times appears to be hiding behind Ms Miller's skirts right now and that seems very unseemly for the paper of record. If her info is so damning of the Bushies why is the NYTimes allowing her to rot in jail with bad food and tummy ailments when they could ostensively blow the top off from RoveGate. It just makes me believe that what she is witholding is more damaging to the NYT and MSM than to the Bushies.

    Re: Conason on Judy Miller (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:27 PM EST
    There is a key issue everyone seems to be missing about this case. On Oct. 7, 2003, Pres. Bush did comment publicly on the case. He said he didn't know if the leaker would be found, because it's a big administration with a lot of senior officials. CEOs have been convicted of obstruction of justice for less than that. You're not supposed to wink at your co-conspirators while being investigated. The president did that, publicly. WHO CARES ABOUT ROVE!?! It's the president whose crimes are most important, and he seems to have commited a felony here.

    Re: Conason on Judy Miller (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:28 PM EST
    MS. MILLER, MAYBERRY JOURNALISTIC JOAN OF ARC One has to tip one's hat at Ms. Judith Millers acumen. By just keeping mum she has managed to kill several big birds with only one silent stone. In the first place she is protecting herself, taking a precautionary Fifth, so to speak; secondly, she helps whitewash the NYT's somewhat tarnished reputation; thirdly, playacting at being a martyr of the hallowed cause of freedom of the press contributes to improve her own and her paper's standing; she also improves (dramatically) her situation within the NYT's organization, which -after its mea culpa on the whole Iraq mess- seemed just about ready to assign her to cover the NY City Dog Pound beat and now may just make her Managing "Editress" after her time in Alexandria; and in the last place (but by no means the least important one) her playing The Sphynx helps her friends in the Administration in case any (or all) of them wind up in the wrong side of the much-awaited Special Prosecutor's Final Report on the Plame affaire. So how's that for legerdemain? As the French say (or used to say): to Ms. Miller, chapeau! All this not to mention possible book and movie deals: how about Ms. Helen Hunt or Ms. Laura Linney to play the starring role?

    Re: Conason on Judy Miller (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:29 PM EST
    Ten, twelve responses, all negative, except the wingnut who suspects that a caviar off her butler's fingers sort like Miller is in prison to protect the Times! And pearls fall from heaven. Cast one more thumbs-down for Miller on my behalf. If only her service to her country was in any way comparable to her service to herself and her masters. Americans cannot be made out of old shoes like Judith Miller. Whose foot is wearing her? Who cares.

    Re: Conason on Judy Miller (none / 0) (#14)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:31 PM EST
    Jimcee, Your powers of imagination need many years of work. Your theory makes absolutely no sense. There is NO way this outing emanated from press sources. If so, then they possess knowledge of classified information, and that doesn't reflect well on the administration, from whom the classified information flows. You. Are. Deluded. Miller is going to jail to protect information more damaging to her paper than to the administration??? You are more than deluded. Try to allign that nutcase theory with the actions of the administration. Go ahead, try. If that were really the truth, Fitzgerald would have an easy time, wouldn't be hassling the administration, and bats would be flying out of you a** right now. Are you that incapable of reading the writing on the walls. This entire thing started with an attempt by the administration to smear Wilson. Why? Because he publicly called them out on their lies. That kind of thimble-dick'd strategy is getting them the heat and the trouble they deserve. Wake up.

    Conason on Judy Miller | 14 comments (14 topical)