1. Judith Miller Scandal Rachel Mathieu John Marcus Jordan McClain

2. Who is Judith Miller? ● Writer for the New York Times from the early 1980’s until her resignation 2005. ● Published false and inaccurate articles about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. ● Known in the newsroom as ruthless and rude. (http://www.voltairenet.org/local/cache-vignettes/L390xH268/en- 390_judith-1ba94.jpg)

3. What Happened? ● Judith Miller published a series of articles saying that there Saddam Hussein was harboring Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq ● Quoting often used sources, Miller was confident she was told the truth. ● She went for the prize more than the truth of the story itself, told she was to “win a pulitzer” by her editor. ● After publishing the stories in the New York Times, members of the Bush Administration such as Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell referenced her article, even though it was their departments and sources in Iraq that fed her false information. ● She reported news that she could not verify, leading the country to be persuaded to enter the War on Terror against Iraq.

4. What were these articles? ● Hussein was moving nuclear weapons to warehouses across the country ● A Russian chemist gave Hussein a potent strain of small pox ● Iraq imported aluminum tubes for nuclear weapons

5. After the articles were published ● Her main source in Iraq had ties severed with US Government after finding out he misled them. ● Miller was accused of lying and was said to be unfit of reporting for the New York Times. ● In 2015, Miller published a book trying to clear her name.

6. Causes for Miller’s Breach of Conduct “That is, the very qualities that endeared Miller to her editors at the New York Times—her ambition, her aggressiveness, her cultivation of sources by any means necessary, her hunger to be first—were the same ones that allowed her to get the WMD story so wrong,” (Foer). ● The breach occurred in large part due to Miller’s competitiveness, driven in part by the pressures of modern journalism (e.g.- variety of news sources, death of newspapers) ● In an effort to publish the story quickly, Miller settled to gather her information from a limited amount of sources without spending a proper amount of time ensuring the accuracy of their statements ● Miller’s information remained unquestioned for so long because of The Times’ reluctance to admit such a grievous mistake on an issue so significant to the American populace, accompanied by Miller’s refusal to admit to any fault in relation to her articles

7. Power of Journalism to Create a War ● Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney went on political talk shows to help sway the public into backing an invasion of Iraq. ● They cited Miller’s articles, even though it was their departments and sources who fed Miller information, creating a loop. ● Without these stories being verified or published, it is very unlikely that congress would have supported an invasion into Iraq, which would have saved thousands of soldiers’ lives.

8. The Aftermath for Mrs. Miller ● The New York Times came out with an article about the faulty stories they published on the WMD in Iraq. They claimed that it was not one journalist’s (Miller) fault, and that it was a more complicated issue than it appeared. ● Mrs. Miller went to jail in 2005 for contempt of court in an unrelated issue. She refused to give out the name of a source, which was essential evidence for a court case involving a CIA breach. ● In October of 2005 the New York Times Public Editor Byron Calame wrote that because the stories Miller wrote regarding the WMD in Iraq were false, she was going to face a lot of opposition from both the public and her colleagues if she tried to continue reporting at the paper. Several weeks later she retired from the New York Times and worked out a private severance package. ● In 2015 Miller published a memoir titled The Story: A Reporter’s Journey. Many people viewed the memoir as a desperate attempt to blame all of the fault on others in order to gain back the respect she once had as a journalist.

9. Have Journalistic Standards Changed? NO ● “If your sources are wrong, you are wrong.” -Judith Miller ● Mrs. Miller tried to claim that as a journalist, it is simply her duty to report what her sources say in order to inform the public of what the government is up to. She tried to claim that the fact that her stories were inaccurate was completely the fault of her sources, and she was just relaying what she thought was trustworthy information, thus she should not be blamed in any way. ● However, truth has always been a principle of good journalism. Miller did not change people’s opinion on the fact that journalists are responsible for only printing the truth, and they should always ensure that their information is accurate before they take a pen to paper.

10. Public Response Once US military exploration in Iraq revealed that threats of weapons of mass destruction were entirely fabricated, public outrage ensued. ● In May of 2004, the Times published an editorial mea culpa apologizing for its articles that made claims about the Iraqis’ possession of weapons of mass destruction ● In 2005, continued pressure resulted in the Times granting Miller a severance package and a graceful exit from the paper ● The incident eradicated all public support and trust Miller previously enjoyed as a journalist for the Times, leaving her with a highly damaged career ● In 2015, Miller published a book relating her experience as a journalist called The Story: A Reporter’s Journey; the book was not well received and was largely interpreted as a desperate attempt to exonerate herself and regain some respect Jon Stewart grills Miller Jon Stewart grills Miller (http://media.salon.com/2015/04/Screen-Shot-2015-04-30-at-9.07.56-AM- 1280x779.png)