Past ironic, 3 exits beyond "Whaaa?!"

Former N.Y. Times reporter decries Bush policies 11/11/06:

"How can an electorate be free and informed if it is denied information? [Judy] Miller asked. Without a free press, such stories as the torture of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, warrantless wiretapping and CIA prisons in Eastern Europe wouldn't have been reported, she said.

'People need to know what the government is doing in order to debate,' she said.

Miller said the American media, however, give the federal government reason to doubt its motives and competence each time it is discovered that an article is plagiarized or gossip is reported as fact.

The blurring of entertainment and news and the relaxing of journalistic standards can be seen in online bloggers who are critical of people without giving them an opportunity to respond or who don't post corrections when they learn that what they have posted is wrong, she said.

'I'm worried about bloggers,' she said. '(A post) starts as a rumor and within 24 hours it's repeated as fact.'

While she advocates a federal shield law to protect mainstream journalists from divulging their sources, she doesn't favor extending that to bloggers who don't follow the standards and ethnics of the journalism industry.

Still, she wouldn't restrict a blogger's right to publish online. She said some bloggers have been invaluable in uncovering government flaws.

"I'm glad to welcome them as long as they agree to the standards," she said.

Judy Miller. Giving blogger ethics lessons. About facts no less. And "rumors reported as facts." Yeah, that Judy Miller, the one who hyped WMD stories, or just made them up, because she digs the wild side of being embedded. The one the NYT let-go for getting cozy with sources who have agendas that get us up the Euphrates without a paddle. This Judy Miller...

This is Ms. Miller.



Ms. Miller writes stories for a famous newspaper. She likes scary stories and tales about dying. She likes them a lot. Sometimes the stories have mistakes and her bosses have to say "Sorry!" Ms. Miller makes lots of mistakes. She doesn't like to say "Sorry!" But she really likes to feel special. She likes to play pretend. She likes Mr. Leaker. And Scooter and Mr. Rove.

Media, Credentials, "access" and the misguided pursuit of selfish, manufactured professional heroism. Killing America 24/7, from an outlet near you.