Judy Miller Addresses Lowly Bloggers
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James Joyner | Wednesday, November 16, 2005 |
Jeff Jarvis has a summary of Judith Miller’s remarks to the assembled guests at the Open Source Media (nee Pajamas Media) launch event.
She describes the scene in prison as âa bad c movie: bad girls in jail.â
Except that the girls in the movies are more attractive. And didn’t volunteer to go to jail for no apparent reason.
She says that none of her other sources, whom she sought to protect from âfishing expeditionsâ in the grand jury, did not discuss the Plame affair; I hadnât heard that before and wonder why it was an issue.
Ditto on both counts.
She says Drudge, Salon, et al are becoming âvirtual MSMâ facing the same challenges as big media, including âquestions about their reliability,â business, and government pressure.
Rather obvious but true. The same’s true of the bigger blogs.
She complains about some blogs: âThe most irresponsible of them conjuring up million-dollar book contracts that I did not have, unfortunately, and still do not have.â She said some bloggers were âvicious and irresponsible.â
Certainly true. Bloggers are just people, after all.
She talks about the shield law in Congress and how it should cover more than msm journalists but canât cover all. Then she suggests how bloggers should get covered: âBloggers who want to be part of the MSM club⦠are going to have to start abiding more religiously⦠to certain rules of the road⦠that would have prevented some of the stories that were circulated about me.â Itâs all about Judy.
Yep. And it’s silly. The First Amendment applies to all or none.
She then presents five rules:
1. Be honest about how you are and what your agenda is and whoâs funding you. She says we âdonât have to look farâ to find examples of bloggers who are now. Who, Judy? I hope someone presses that. If youâre going to throw out that accusation, back it up with facts. Good reporting, you know.
Yep. And why doesn’t that apply to those in the “club”? The big corporate media don’t disclose their conflicts–far more numerous than facing all but a handful of bloggers–each time they report a story.
2. Try to reach the subjects of stories for comment before publishing. âThis is journalism 101.â But hereâs web 102, Judy: those sources as often as not can and do respond on their own sites.
Both Jeff and Judy have valid points here.
3. If a subject denies what you say and has evidence, âsay so; it might actually be true.â
Okay. Not sure why that would impact the shield law issue, though.
4. If you make a mistake admit it. Ohhhh, boy, isnât that the juicy one. How come it took you so long to admit your mistakes? And have you yet fully? She said the Times does this through editorsâ notes and she doesnât entirely approve of them.
I’d say the major bloggers are much better at that than the major mainline media outlets. Bloggers tend to publish corrections right on the spot, not three days later in a section of the paper no one reads.
5. If you are wrong, keep going until you get it right.
Okay. Again, though, it has no bearing on whether blogs should be covered under shield laws.
Update: Stephen Green was “impressed” by Miller’s speech.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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She wants bloggers to be honest about who they are and what their agenda is? As soon as the MSM admits it is the voice of the commiecrat party, bought and paid for by like minded anti-American lestists - the agenda is to take over America through using its own freedoms through conversion and without firing a shot. (Till they get the power that is.)
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