Dec. 6, 2005

Kalb Report Looks into the Eye of the Storm

BY THOMAS KOHOUT

The eye of the Journalistic Hurricane passed over the Main Ballroom of the National Press Club as The Kalb Report hosted former New York Times reporter Judith Miller to discuss confidential sourcing. An audience of more than 400 students, journalists, and members of the general public were on hand for the forum “An Inside Look at the Life of an Investigative Journalist,” Nov. 14.

Host Marvin Kalb opened the show by taking aim at Miller’s critics, “Before I ask my first question I want to go on record as saying that anyone who claims Judy Miller deliberately went to jail to burnish her image or to improve her reputation as a journalist is clearly someone who has never spent any time in jail.” He added “And that is probably too polite.”

Miller, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 2002, worked at The New York Times for 28 years, but suddenly found herself at the center of a White House scandal involving the release of classified information — the identity of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame. Miller appeared on the program just a month removed from her 85-day incarceration for contempt of court over her refusal to reveal a confidential source in the case — I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney.

Days after Miller identified Libby as her source and she was released from prison, she abruptly resigned from The New York Times, a decision she explained by saying once she became the news, she knew it was time to leave The New York Times.

Kalb and Miller expressed wonder at how she and not Robert Novak, the columnist who actually wrote a story revealing Plame’s identity, became such a central figure in the debate. According to Miller, Libby suggested she refer to him as a former Capitol Hill staffer, a statement which, though true, was intentionally misleading.

“I didn’t write a story,” Miller said. “I didn’t give him [Libby] that attribution. In my 26 years, nobody has ever questioned my identification of sources.”

The Kalb Report series is produced by The George Washington University, The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University, and The National Press Club. This edition is the third in a multi-part series, underwritten by a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.

The next program, “The Kalb Report: A Conversation with Tom Friedman,” will take place Dec. 12, at 8 pm.

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu