A Jar of Red Herrings - New York Times

A Jar of Red Herrings - New York Times: "Editorial
A Jar of Red Herrings


Published: July 19, 2005

It is getting hard to keep track of all the issues stirred up by the leaking of a C.I.A. operative's name to a conservative columnist two years ago. Our colleague Judith Miller has been in jail for nearly two weeks for refusing to identify her confidential sources to a grand jury investigating that leak. Her position - that reporters cannot do their jobs if they cannot guarantee some sources anonymity - is very clear, as is her willingness to accept the legal consequences of her principled stand. But the case itself is complicated, and it's been made more so by a raft of distracting issues."