We would NEVER think of being so crude as to tell you “I told you so” — heaven forbid…but read this from the New York Times:
The New York Times and Judith Miller, a veteran reporter for the paper, reached an agreement today that ends her 28-year career at the newspaper and caps more than two weeks of negotiations.
Ms. Miller went to jail this summer rather than reveal a confidential source in the C.I.A. leak case. But her release from jail 85 days later after she agreed to testify before a grand jury and persistent questions about her actions roiled long-simmering concerns about her in the newsroom and led to her departure.
In a memo sent The Times staff at 3:30 p.m. today, Bill Keller, the executive editor, wrote, “In her 28 years at The Times, Judy participated in some great prize winning journalism.”
Is he British? People usually use the stereotype of the British as prone to understatement. AND:
In a statement, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of The Times, said: “We are grateful to Judy for her significant personal sacrifice to defend an important journalistic principle,” adding, “I respect her decision to retire from The Times and wish her well.”
That’s corporate-speak for “Thank the Lord that we’ve extracted ourselves from this inexorable political and journalistic tarpit!”
Ms. Miller could not be reached for comment.
Oh. That means she’s saving her unabashed reaction for her book, whch will probably be made into a movie…AND:
Lawyers for Ms. Miller and the paper negotiated a severance package, the details of which they would not disclose. Under the agreement, Ms. Miller will retire from the newspaper, and The Times will print a letter she wrote to the editor explaining her position. Ms. Miller originally demanded that she be able to write an essay for the paper’s Op-Ed page challenging the allegations against her. The Times refused that demand – Gail Collins, editor of the editorial page, said, “We don’t use the Op-Ed page for back and forth between one part of the paper and another” – but agreed to let her write the letter.
In that letter, to be published in The New York Times on Thursday under the heading, “Judith Miller’s Farewell,” Ms. Miller said she was leaving partly because some of her colleagues disagreed with her decision to testify in the C.I.A. leak case.
“But mainly,” she wrote, “I have chosen to resign because over the last few months, I have become the news, something a New York Times reporter never wants to be.”
She noted that even before going to jail, she had “become a lightning rod for public fury over the intelligence failures that helped lead our country to war.” She said she regretted “that I was not permitted to pursue answers” to questions about those intelligence failures.
Translation: she wants to continue reporting and will likely (perhaps at Fox News?) land another gig.
On the other hand, the Village Voice offers these suggestions for Ms. Miller to consider as future career moves.
You can read the complete text of Keller’s memo to his staff here…but most fascinating is his memo to Miller:
Dear Judy,
I know you’ve been distressed by the memo I sent to the staff about things I wish I’d done differently in the course of this ordeal. Let me be clear on two points you’ve raised.
First, you are upset with me that I used the words “entanglement� and “engagement� in reference to your relationship with Scooter Libby. Those words were not intended to suggest an improper relationship. I was referring only to the series of interviews through which you  and the paper  became caught up in an epic legal controversy.
Second, you dispute my assertion that “Judy seems to have misled� Phil Taubman when he asked whether you were one of the reporters to whom the White House reached out with the Wilson story. I continue to be troubled by that episode. But you are right that Phil himself does not contend that you misled him; and, of course, I was not a participant in the conversation between you and Phil.
I wish you all the best for the future.
Regards, Bill
We’ll never know, but it almost sounds as if that memo is part of the final settlement to clear her name.
We wrote here about how we agreed with Jeff Jarvis that it was puzzling how Miller was being held up as some kind of symbol of press freedoms. Modesty forbids us from reminding all of you that we saw this PARTING OF WAYS between the NYT and Miller coming but refuse to be crass about it. And we certainly won’t draw attention to how we scratched our heads early on and noted some of the questions raised about Miller.
The central issue, that will continue to be debated for a long time, is what is a journalist’s role? People on the right often blast journalists and the news media for pursuing a “liberal agenda” and not keeping enough distance away from their feelings. People on the left have blasted the news media for instead of being a “liberal media” actually a “conservative media” not being tough enough (until Hurricane Katrina) on George Bush.
The key question is how much distance ANY journalist needs to keep from his or her sources before there can be allegations that journalistic integrity has been compromised and the journalist becomes compromised. These allegations are hard to prove (or disprove) but they once they’re out there they linger and don’t help journalism (or the reporter when it happens).
So don’t look for Miller to be keynote speaker at any…wait…that’s happening.
Never mind…
HERE ARE A FEW OTHER VOICES ON THIS ISSUE:
–Great Minds Think Alike Dept: The Boston Progressive also saw this coming.
–The always fun and perceptive The Heretik:”“PINCHâ€? PUNCHED JUDY OUT at the Times clock himself. How long will it take for him to kick Judy’s “editorâ€? Bill Keller and himself in the ass?”
—Ariana Huffington:”Fine, Judy didn’t screw Libby. Just the American public. Good riddance.”
—Rathergate.com:
If her purpose was to achieve martyrdom and sell the upcoming book, she would have better served herself by keeping quiet. When she agreed to talk to Fitzgerald and turned out not to have information which could lead to Karl Rove being frog-marched (to use Joe Wilson’s term), the MSM turned on her. So ends another MSM career.
—Crooks And Liars:”Judy responds in this article. She says she was leaving partly because “some of her colleagues disagreed with her decision to testify in the C.I.A. leak case.” Really? I thought they were pissed that you became a stenographer for the administration instead of an investigative reporter.”
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.