The Times: Reporting On Itself -- Again

The NYT published its long awaited report on the Judy Miller case and its own reporting on that case: The Miller Case: A Notebook, a Cause, a Jail Cell and a Deal - New York Times.

It's a good piece -- as far as it goes. Yet even here, the Times seems peculiarly bent on self-justification. It's almost like Bush saying, in response to the Katrina mess "If there were any failings in the federal response, I take full responsibility." They can't quite admit what seems reasonably obvious to most people: They were duped into taking a stand on behalf of a self-serving reporter whose primary mission was not to protect a source but to make herslf a star -- and who had not the guts to play the game out to the end.

The Times does deserve credit for at least examining itself. One could wish that they didn't get so much practice at it, though.