Wednesday, May 26, 2004

SHE WHOSE NAME MUST NOT BE SPOKEN. The talk of the media world over the next few days is going to be today's mea culpa in the New York Times about the paper's gullible coverage of Iraq's weapons capabilities and terrorist ties in the run-up to the war. Headlined "From the Editors," the piece admits to mistakes on the part of reporters and editors, and to the same overreliance on the charlatan Iraqi exile leader Ahmad Chalabi that helped goad the White House into this terrible, unnecessary war.

Although the piece, as Editor & Publisher has already observed, makes no mention of Chalabi's favorite Times reporter, Judith Miller, you've got to wonder whether her career can survive. It would be ironic if Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, et al., whose love affair with Chalabi led to the deaths of hundreds of Americans and thousands of Iraqis, get off scot-free while Miller pays a higher price. Then again, despite the Times' well-documented problems of the past several years, it still has higher standards than the Bush White House.

Miller's principal tormenter, Jack Shafer, wrote about the pending "Editor's Note" yesterday in Slate. Although he closes with "And so ends The Judith Miller Chronicles (I hope)," presumably he'll have more to say today.

Romenesko is gathering commentary on the subject here.

WINING, DINING, AND NOT FILING. Walter Brooks has an amusing take on an off-the-record soirée at the Kennedy compound attended by about 100 journalists, and apparently mentioned by only two smallish papers in the western part of the state.

Media Log was not invited. And that's on the record.

A FIASCO FORETOLD. Boston Globe columnists Scot Lehigh and Steve Bailey today both blast the poor planning that may result in apocalyptic gridlock during the Democratic National Convention. Bailey is angry - I mean, really angry - and thus more entertaining.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Right on brother! Judith Miller should be fired.