[From the diaries. I couldn't believe they were even considering such a thing, when they first proposed it. Regardless of her role re: Plame, Miller's horrifically inaccurate, crappily sourced, self-serving (and intentionally sensationalist?) WMD reporting before and during the Iraq War will stand as an example of the damage the worst journalism can do. -- Hunter]
When the American Society of Journalists and Authors decides to not give an award, they don't mess around! Not only have they reversed their decision to give Judith Miller the 'Conscience in Media' award, but:
...the full board has now voted to overturn that decision, based on its opinion that her entire career, and even her current actions in the Plame/CIA leak case, cast doubt on her credentials for this award.
And on their website yesterday, ASJA president Jack El-Hai, posted that there was:
* "A feeling that Miller's career, taken as a whole, did not make her the best candidate for the award"
Ouch!
I know there are those who consider Miller's actions in the Plame case to be heroic...that she's upholding the integrity of not only her sources, but of journalist's sources everywhere. But a writer who resigned from the ASJA in protest of the original vote refutes that argument quite well:
"The First Amendment is designed to prevent government interference with a free press. Miller, by shielding a government official or officials who attempted to use the press to retaliate against a whistleblower, and scare off other would-be whistleblowers, has allied herself with government interference with, and censorship of, whistleblowers. When your source IS the government, and the government is attempting to use you to target a whistleblower, the notion of shielding a source must be reconsidered. To apply standard practices regarding sources to hiding wrongdoing at the highest levels of government perverts the intent of the First Amendment."
That Miller was a tool of the administration in the lead up to the Iraq war is something that she'll have to live with...as far as I'm concerned, there is blood on her hands. And I'm glad that the ASJA decided not to jump on her martyr-train, because in my opinion Miller isn't in jail to protect journalistic integrity, she's there to protect herself. MHO.