It looks like Judith Miller and the New York Times (NYT) may be at odds over the CIA Leak case. The NYT executive editor, Bill Keller, sent out an email suggesting he felt Miller hadn't been entirely candid with them in the whole affair and they may have done things differently had they known then what they know now. Here's an excerpt from an ABC story from the letter:

In a dramatic e-mail, Executive Editor Bill Keller wrote Times' employees he wished he'd more carefully interviewed Miller and had "missed what should have been significant alarm bells" that she had been the recipient of leaked information about the CIA officer at the heart of the case.

"Judy seems to have misled (Times Washington bureau chief) Phil Taubman about the extent of her involvement," Keller wrote in what he described as a lessons-learned e-mail. "This alone should have been enough to make me probe deeper."

Keller said he might have been more willing to compromise with Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald "if I had known the details of Judy's entanglement" with Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Response

Interesting stuff but it brings to mind a couple of points. One, it shows some reporters will go to great lengths to get contacts inside an administration, even to the point of losing any hint of objectivity in order to maintain the connection.

The second is a bigger picture thing regarding this issue. If reporters and the media that supports them, be broadcast, print or otherwise, continue they way they are going, they're in bed with whatever they're reporting on and have no safe claim to objectivity. They compromise their integrity in order to keep close connections. I'm a bit of a purist in that I believe the purpose of the media, once again print, broadcast or otherwise, is to be a gadfly to those in power. They're job is to sting the authority and the public consciousness in order to help make our world a little more transparent. Instead, these companies are big multinational conglomerates with a vested interest in the status quo. While many accuse the media of being liberal or conservative or whatever, honestly, they're just kissing the ass of whoever's in power to keep their connection. They don't hound them at every turn, they open the door for them and it's ridiculous.

posted by Stithmeister @ 10:58 AM
 
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