'NY Times' Says Miller 'Certainly' Did Cooperate, But Editor Cites Delays

By: E&P Staff In their long-awaited review of reporter Judy Miller's involvement in the Plame scandal, a team of New York Times reporters on Sunday noted that she was less than fully cooperative with their probe, refusing to share notes and sources or respond to many questions.

But the view of the top is a bit different. In response to a request from Jay Rosen, chair of the journalism department at New York University and blog producer at PressThink, for a comment on this, Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis (according to Rosen) replied: "While Judy put limits on what she would discuss, the fact that she did sit for interviews and wrote her own account of her testimony certainly represents cooperation.?

Greg Mitchell's Pressing Issues Keller Must Fire Miller, and Apologize to Readers Why Judith Miller Can't Catch a Break PLAME NEWS Libby's Letter to Miller Raises 'Troubling' Issues 'NY Times' Says Miller Cooperate, But Editor Cites Delays 'Hidden Scandal' in Miller Story, Charges Former CBS Newsman Judy Does Vegas: Homecoming for Miller as She Picks Up SPJ Award Newsroom Controversies First Reactions: Many Questions Remain Former NYT Reporters React Keller Issues Statement Miller Gives 'Deep Throat' a Prize, Awaits SPJ Award Fitzgerald Weighs Next Move AP Summary of NY Times' Miller Opus Fitzgerald Probed Miller on 'Classified' Info

Rosen's response: "Represents to whom? I guarantee you her Times colleagues did not see her 'limits' as reasonable or as 'cooperation.'"

Meanwhile, the weekly New York Observer came out with a story on its Web site Sunday, in which Jonathan Landman, a deputy managing editor who oversaw the Times' Miller probe, revealed why it was delayed near the end, meaning the story missed the important Sunday "bulldog" edition of the paper.

Throughout the previous week, Landman said, Miller gave conflicting signals about whether she would write a story or not. "We didn't have her first-person account," Landman told the Observer's Gabriel Sherman. "We didn't have her perspective on things. We got it a little before noon [Oct. 14]. It was very frustrating.

"There was lots of off-and-on and on-and-off," Landman added. "And that was frustrating too."

Sherman writes: "The reporters on the story -- Don Van Natta Jr., Adam Liptak, Clifford Levy and Janny Scott -- had been working to complete a piece with or without Miller's participation, Landman said. But when Miller turned in her first-person piece late on the morning of Oct. 14, the reporters had to race to re-report details to reflect her assertions, with less than a day to spare before deadline.

"Executive Editor Bill Keller, who was traveling in China, reviewed a partial draft. Copy editors received the piece by 9 a.m. on Saturday, but it was too late to turn the package around for the noon bulldog close."