On Thursday, I posted
NYT vs. WaPo Cat Fight: Anonymous Sources Clash, laying out a crystal-clear disagreement between our two foremost papers of record. Both relied on anonymous sources -- and one of them was sure to get burned.
Well, the results are in, and the New York Times is the Washington Post's bitch.
What's worse: The NYT's screw-up can't just be laid at the feet of those flaky anonymous sources. With only a tiny bit of legwork -- a simple phone call or two, really -- they would have known better.
Chalk this one up to inept reporting. See why after the jump.
If you'll recall, a couple of days ago there was a lot of disagreement about whether or not Fitzgerald would seek to extend the term of the grand jury.
And since these questions just don't come up that often, lots of people were digging for answers, and were thrown off by the Times' report Thursday night that Fitzgerald would seek an extension. Josh Marshall waded into the debate, and he, too, came up short.
Unfortunately, NYT reporters David Johnston and Dick Stevenson are supposed to do better. They're not pajama'd bloggers, breathlessly reciting what's been whispered in their ears -- they're top reporters, who have an obligation to check their facts.
Especially when they're based on anonymous sources.
But the NYT failed to do what ReddHedd managed to get done over at firedoglake. ReddHedd made a couple of phone calls and quickly figured out that there was nothing "special" about Fitzgerald's grand jury -- and that it was impossible for him to get an extension. Period.
Bottom line: The Post got it right. The Times made yet another inexcusable gaffe, relying on anonymous sources and failing to check the most basic facts in their story. If they don't get a handle on their practices with anonymous sources, the NYT won't have any credibility at all.
See for yourself. This mistake, like so many of Judith Miller's, was on Page One, all screwed up, right down to the lede.
So here it is, Kossacks, just for the record:
October 28, 2005
Cheney Aide Appears Likely to Be Indicted; Rove Under Scrutiny
By DAVID JOHNSTON
and RICHARD W. STEVENSON
WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 - Lawyers in the C.I.A. leak case said Thursday that they expected I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, to be indicted on Friday, charged with making false statements to the grand jury.
Karl Rove, President Bush's senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, will not be charged on Friday, but will remain under investigation, people briefed officially about the case said. As a result, they said, the special counsel in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, was likely to extend the term of the federal grand jury beyond its scheduled expiration on Friday....
Please recommend this diary if holding reporters accountable for their sloppy work is important to you.