via Atrios
At a benefit dinner for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Al Franken had this to say to Judith Miller:
Then he turned toward The New York Times table in the front of the room, where sat Judith Miller, best known these days for two things: her articles on weapons of mass destruction that didn’t quite pan out and the possibility she will go to jail for not revealing sources in the Valerie Plame case. “Judy,”” Franken said, “maybe you can find some WMD in your cell.” Silence. “OK, I shouldn’t have told that joke.”
Maybe not the best forum for such a statement, as the Committee works to promote shield laws that protect reporters from being forced to reveal sources. I can certainly agree with the sentiment though.
More Franken:
There were some humorous moments in the presentations, but the evening’s least successful joke was delivered by Al Franken, who made the final award presentation, to Ivins. He opened with a funny bit claiming that Dan Rather had told him a great story about Ivins during the cocktail hour that would make a perfect anecdote for his introduction. “Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to confirm it, and there’s just one source, so I can’t use it,” he said to laughter. “Too bad; it’s a good story.”
Apparently the reporters think its okay to laugh when the career of one of their own is destroyed by a mysterious forgery that was largely accurate. But make a joke about one of them irresponsibly propping up the argument for a criminal war, whoa, that’s poor taste. This is what’s wrong with our media, when they circle the wagons to protect one of their own for a dubious cause.
[Attorney Floyd]Abrams spoke seriously about the currently pending threats to journalistic freedoms, citing John Peter Zenger and Benjamin Franklin. He also addressed the recent Newsweek-Koran story. “The idea that we must in the future draft our articles to not offend fundamentalist fanatics seems to me utterly inconsistent with living in free society,” he said.
I wonder which fundamentalist fanatics to whom Abrams was referring?