Judith Miller Should Take One for the Team

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Judith Miller is a writer/reporter for the New York Times, she is well-written, and she is one of the lead writers for what is probably the most well-known newspaper in the United States.
She is also at the center of a special prosecution investigation into the "outing" of a CIA operative. Apparently the information was leaked to columnist Robert Novak, who then reported it to the public.

Miller appeared on the Commonwealth Club's broadcast this last Sunday on NPR, and while there, she went on and on about her case. She may very well end up serving 180 or so days in jail for contempt of court, because she is believed to know the identity of the person who leaked the information on the CIA operative to Mr. Novak. Miller said on the Commonwealth Club that not only does she not have the information that the special prosecutor is looking for, she didn't even write a story on the case.

However, Miller continued by commenting on how cruel the system is, how secrecy shrouds everything, how journalists and journalism is threatened by George Bush, the Patriot Act, and the War on Terror...that if the government was able to restrain journalists, we would never have found out the "truth" behind the WMDs, or Abu Graib, or the other abuse scandals.

And Miller defends anonymous sources...it was an anonymous source that led to that brilliant piece of journalistic reporting about the Koran being flushed down a toilet at Guantanamo Bay. Never mind that the resulting protests led to about 15 people being killed in riots...never mind the rather sheepish way that Newsweek withdrew the story...anonymous sources MUST be able to keep their secrecy.

Secrecy sounds a lot better when it serves YOUR cause, right Ms. Miller?

Quite frankly, my argument on this subject is not about Ms. Miller's views on anonymous sources, but with how she is acting in the face of 180 days in jail. She spent 30 minutes on public radio whining and crying about what a burden this is going to be on her family if she goes to jail, at the same time she will not cooperate with the special prosecutor, she won't reveal her source, and she won't sign a confidentiality waiver...she says any of these things would damage her ability to be a journalist.

And to an extent, I can see her point. But you can not have your cake and eat it too.

If Judith Miller does not want to cooperate with the special prosecutor, fine...but she should then stop whining and serve the jail time...and through the lawyers she'll have, and through the lawyers of the New York Times, they can play up the injustice of the whole thing and scream about how the government is SO unfair.

Martin Luther King was willing to go to jail for his principles, because he KNEW he was right, and he was willing to endure jail because of that.

What is Judith Miller ready to endure for her beliefs?

John B.
Blog Guy