Judith Miller 'Dismayed' By New York Times Criticism
10:27 PM EDT October 24, 2005
NEW YORK (AP)--New York Times reporter Judith Miller is defending herself against her own paper's criticism of her role in the CIA leak controversy, saying she was proud to serve time in jail to protect a confidential source, "even if he happened to work for the Bush White House."
Miller's response came in a lengthy e-mail to public editor Byron Calame, who recommended in a Sunday column that the Times review Miller's journalistic practices for conduct that raised "clear issues of trust and credibility."
Miller spent 85 days in jail for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating the leak of CIA covert officer Valerie Plame's identity. She was released Sept. 29 and agreed to testify after her source, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, released her from her promise of confidentiality.
Since Miller published her account and the Times published its own story about Miller on Oct. 16, media critics and journalists have derided her, both for her stories strongly suggesting the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and for failing to explain how she learned Plame's identity.
Executive Editor Bill Keller said in an e-mail to staffers Friday that Miller appeared to have misled editors about her conversations with Libby. Columnist Maureen Dowd, meanwhile, wrote on Saturday that editors had been unable to control Miller.
Miller's e-mail to Calame was posted in his Web journal late Sunday on the Times' Web site. In it, Miller said she was "dismayed" by his essay and referred to Keller's staff e-mail as an "ugly, inaccurate memo."
Calame had noted Miller's assertion that she recommended to an editor a story be pursued on Plame, but had been told there was no interest. Miller's boss at the time, Jill Abramson, has said Miller didn't make such a request, and Calame wrote that he believed Abramson, now the paper's managing editor.
"Now I ask you: Why would I - the supposedly pushiest, most competitive reporter on the planet - not have pushed to pursue a tantalizing tip like this?" Miller wrote.
While she and Abramson have different recollections, Miller wrote that "without explanation ... you said you believed her and raised questions about my `trust and credibility.' That is your right. But I gave my recollection to the grand jury under oath."
Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis didn't return a telephone call seeking comment Monday.
Miller, 57, won a Pulitzer Prize in explanatory journalism in 2002 for her work on global terrorism threats.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-24-05 2227ET
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