The New York Times – that bastion of so-called liberal journalism founded in 1851. A proud American tradition. Sunday editions that weigh more than my cat. America’s “newspaper of record”. That Pulitzer Prize winning media behemoth. And, oh, the rich network of sources! How can any other media player possibly compete? These days, it doesn’t take much.
Here’s my Sunday Scoop the NYT recipe:
Ingredients
1 eager reporter named Judy
several (to taste) stories about Iraq’s fake WMDs
1 or more WH insider anonymous sources
1 man named Joe Wilson
1 covert CIA agent wife
1 grand jury investigation
1 relentless prosecutor named Fitzgerald
86 days in jail
1 forgotten notebook of conversation notes
1 reluctant editor
pinch of fear
Mix over high heat until boiling. Lower heat and let simmer for weeks on end. Serves ?. (Caution: may make aspens turn).
Step into the kitchen… (new revelations about Miller and Rove)
That last ingredient is the key to making the Scoop, or as the French might call it, “Scoopage”, recipe work. One can’t underestimate the power of that little spice. It’s more valuable than saffron and more powerful than the strongest jalapeno.
As Editor & Publisher points out, the NYT either appears to be helpless or scared stiff in its pursuit of the truth in the Valerie Plame case due the involvement of its star reporter, Judith Miller. Other media organizations have stepped in to grab the real scoops in the story as a result.
Last week, the paper was late in revealing that Miller had left jail. Thursday it was behind the curve in disclosing that the federal prosecutor in the Plame case had scheduled another meeting with Miller next week. And Friday, it was scooped by, first, the New York Observer (a weekly) and then Reuters, in reporting the rather significant news that Miller had somehow discovered notes of a conversation with I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby that took place about two weeks before the discussions that were the focus of her testimony to the grand jury last week.
Not only that, even after it was scooped, the NYT actually published very little about the latest revelations.
According to the E&P article, Michael Isikoff of Newsweek had more information – or at least was willing to publish more information – about those newly discovered notes:
Late Saturday, Newsweek’s Mike Isikoff reported on the magazine’s Web site an interesting detail missing in the Times’ account: the Miller notes apparently had been found in a notebook in the paper’s Washington bureau.
Note: Read that Newsweek article titled ‘Karl Rove and the Case of the Missing E-mail’ here.
I think that’s important information, don’t you? Any chance the NYT will cough up those details now too as they lag behind the story as if they have an albatross attached to their neck? Wait a minute – they do have an albatross and her name is Judy. And, that beast has growths called “lawyers”.
It’s a sad state of affairs for the prestigious New York Times. At the same time though, journalists from other organizations are dealing with a virtual publishing smorgasbord as they use the above recipe to feed their hungry readers.
