Judy Miller Leaves The New York Times

Posted on November 11, 2005

Reporter Judith Miller has agreed to leave The New York Times, according to an article in the paper. Miller and the newspaper have been negotiating for two weeks, and she reportedly waltzed out the door with a six figure severance package. Now that her reporting on the run-up to the Iraq War was said in retrospect by the newspaper to be inaccurate, it was just a matter of time before she was shown the door.

The New York Times and Judith Miller, a veteran reporter for the paper, reached an agreement yesterday that ended her 28-year career at the newspaper and capped more than two weeks of negotiations.

Letter to the Editor: Judith Miller's Farewell Ms. Miller went to jail this summer rather than reveal a confidential source in the C.I.A. leak case. But her release from jail 85 days later, after she agreed to testify before a grand jury, and persistent questions about her actions roiled long-simmering concerns about her in the newsroom and led to her departure.

Bill Keller, the executive editor, announced the move to the staff in a memorandum yesterday, saying, "In her 28 years at The Times, Judy participated in some great prize-winning journalism."

In a statement, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of The Times, said: "We are grateful to Judy for her significant personal sacrifice to defend an important journalistic principle," adding, "I respect her decision to retire from The Times and wish her well." Ms. Miller, 57, said in an interview that she was "very satisfied" with the agreement and described herself as a "free woman," free from what she called the "convent of The New York Times, a convent with its own theology and its own catechism."

A "convent with its own theology and its own catechism"? Well, at least she's not bitter or anything.

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