Group Won't Give Judith Miller 'Conscience in Media' Award After All

[Rose Siding]

NEW YORK The board of The American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) has voted unanimously to reverse an earlier decision to give its annual Conscience in Media award to jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller, E&P has learned.

The group's First Amendment committee had narrowly voted to give Miller the prize for her dedication to protecting sources, 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.
.....
The American Society of Journalists and Authors is a 50-year-old group of some 1,100 non-fiction independent writers. The earlier vote by its First Amendment committee had already prompted at least one member of that panel to quit her position.

Anita Bartholomew, a freelance journalist who has contributed to Reader's Digest, wrote in a resignation letter, "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.”

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001008093

[acmavm]

1. Well, it's a strange time for journalists to find some ethics, but

at least they found some. If you look real close, you'll find her footprints on most of their faces from where she walked all over them.

[ewagner]

2. Good!!

The lady who resigned, Anita Bartholomew, summed it up nicely! Anybody who is "conflicted" by the jailing of Judith Miller should pay heed to this quote:

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.

[DURHAM D]

3. I'm a little shocked that Bartholomew is with Reader's Digest -

just another part of the rightwing noise machine.

[emulatorloo]

6. freelancer -- not with RD

EOM

[DURHAM D]

9. Good - I am once again confortable with my disdain for RD. eom

[Justitia]

4. Thank God SOMEBODY has their head screwed on straight! -eom

[marions ghost]

5. OMG

:thumbsup:

it's a shame they got hoodwinked in the first place but at least they're big enough to reverse the decision.

"Annual Conscience in Media award"--they need to cast a much wider net!

[emulatorloo]

7. Thanks for posting -- glad to see they have come to thier senses n/t

[Generator]

8. Woo hoo!

Hopefully, that will say something to others on here that don't get it. She's not protecting anything but the worst of the worst. She's supposed to be a journalist and put first FACTS, not the FATE of her own access to her sources and their crimes. She's not a lawyer.

[applegrove]

10. Good. She is too easily controlled by Chalabi & all.