MoDo, as has been reported around blogtopia nails St Judy of the Gutters to the stake. The locals are out gathering pulp for fuel now. Apparently, St Judy is under the impression that she's a credible reporter on issues of minor import, like National Security.
Judy's stories about WMD fit too perfectly with the White House's case for war. She was close to Ahmad Chalabi, the con man who was conning the neocons to knock out Saddam so he could get his hands on Iraq, and I worried that she was playing a leading role in the dangerous echo chamber that former Senator Bob Graham dubbed "incestuous amplification." Using Iraqi defectors and exiles, Mr. Chalabi planted bogus stories with Judy and other credulous journalists.
Even last April, when I wrote a column critical of Mr. Chalabi, she fired off e-mail to me defending him.
...
Judy told The Times that she plans to write a book and intends to return to the newsroom, hoping to cover "the same thing I've always covered - threats to our country." If that were to happen, the institution most in danger would be the newspaper in your hands.
Right up there with more 1600 Crew economic policy would be more Judy Miller "investigative reporting".
Hey, maybe she can do her "rehabilitation" in one of those high-priced CPA jobs through the Heritage Foundation, if they are still passing those out. Maybe she could be the senior economic minister for Tikrit, where I'm sure the local indigenous persons would welcome her with open arms. No, really.
posted by Jo Fish on 10.23.05 at 11:53 AM
Comments:
Hey Jo,
We need to be careful here not to fall into the right's other plan for the media. That is, the discrediting of news institutions to the point that even their facts are "red" or "blue."
Judy Miller certainly didn't do a good job. That's her personal failure. She seems to be enjoying all the attention, and we should avoid giving her any more (i.e. no going to her Vegas speaking shows, don't buy her book, etc.) The Times didn't do a good job of managing her either, and that's their failure, they'll have to do better in the future, and I hope that they will.
We shouldn't, on the other hand, allow this suspicion to takeover our visions of all news institutions. That would be playing right into Rove's vision for how to tame the news media. First is his plan to publicly discredit, then his plan to split even the agreed upon facts so that there's no "truth" that isn't political, then to replace the news media with idiots like Pat Robertson et. al. who can provide a service that looks like "news" but doesn't meet the rigor of actually using facts.
The NYT's use of Judy Miller is a HUGE mistake. They should have moved her to the classifieds immediately after the WMD stories. Allowing her to continue in the newsroom was a major mistake. I can't comprehend how the editors allowed her to "drift" right back to where she was before. I hope that she will no longer be allowed to work there.
posted by: Danny on 10.23.05 at 12:42 PM [permalink]
Well, the Tikrit people may not welcome her with OPEN arms, but I'm sure arms would be involved.
posted by: Scott1960 on 10.23.05 at 07:04 PM [permalink]
Judy is nothing more than a neocon enabler. She duped everyone with her lofty stand against revealing her sources. Why? Because her sources were the very republican criminals shes been writing propaganda for. This was not a First Amendment case, it was nothing more than covering the asses of her neocon handlers. She is a disgrace to the journalist profession.
posted by: Lowell on 10.25.05 at 01:18 PM [permalink]
