# Miller: A con artist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 30, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miller-a-con-artist/324216 "2005-09-30T16:24:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miller-a-con-artist/324216/21 "2005-10-02T00:35:09Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > If it can be demonstrated that she did it for reasons of personal aggrandizement, it demonstrates further the bad judgement of the Times’ editors for not canning her earlier. Damn their lack of prognostication! When will people learn? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miller-a-con-artist/324216/22 "2005-10-23T01:46:56Z")
Given what I’ve read about this situation in the NYT in the last few days, I feel obligated to correct a few of the things I said earlier in this thread. While I still don’t claim to fully understand Miller’s motivations, the Times DID fuck this up, and they fucked it up badly. Miller probably should have been fired for her poor WMD reporting - her excuses for her mistakes are awful - and even if they didn’t shitcan her, the paper _absolutely_ should have made sure that she didn’t report any more on the subject after she was specifically told not to do it. She said she “kept drifting back to it.” Uh… what? They failed to keep a badly-needed leash on her, and they should be thoroughly embarrassed about it. Worse, they kept information out of the paper when they thought it would affect her case. The Washington Post learned and reported that Miller’s source was Scooter Libby months ago. The Times learned the same information _independently of Miller_, and the editors spiked the story to protect her. My impression is that Arthur Sulzberger Jr. believed he was valiantly fighting for the cause of the free press, as the Times did in _New York Times v. Sullivan_ and _New York Times v. US_. He’s wrong, and the public backbiting over the last few days indicates that the paper has just figured this out. The principle is important, but here, they were just protecting a lousy reporter. And I get the sense this was a leadership problem. The reporters in the newsroom knew the people at the top were deluding themselves. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miller-a-con-artist/324216/23 "2005-10-23T02:48:04Z")
Well, I’m be happy to forgive them. They’re still the best paper in the US. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miller-a-con-artist/324216/24 "2005-10-23T02:49:23Z")
Also, sometimes I’m be happy to talk in dialect. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miller-a-con-artist/324216/25 "2005-10-23T03:07:38Z")
> [@E = mc²](#): > > Well, I’m be happy to forgive them. They’re still the best paper in the US. That’s basically why I’m so annoyed. I’m happy to be a Times reader, and I think their stuff is generally really good, so it bothers me when the people running the show do stupid things like this. Particularly denying people the news because they wanted to protect Judy Miller. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miller-a-con-artist/324216/26 "2005-10-23T03:28:31Z")
Ah. Life’s too short to be unforgiving. They can’t be perfect, so I’ll settle for what they are. FUCKING WONDERFUL. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miller-a-con-artist/324216/27 "2005-10-23T03:31:06Z")
> [@E = mc²](#): > > Ah. Life’s too short to be unforgiving. They can’t be perfect, so I’ll settle for what they are. FUCKING WONDERFUL. I try to be a tolerant person. 😉 But, and I’m sorry if I’m telling you something you already know, I’m a journalist myself. So I look at this differently. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miller-a-con-artist/324216.md?page=1)