Under the hyping headline “Judy Miller: Media Ignore Reporter Facing Jail Time Because She’s From Fox News,” an April 9 NewsBusters post by Noel Sheppard states:
[T]he media have been largely ignoring the plight of Fox News reporter Jana Winter who may end up going to jail for maintaining the secrecy of her sources on a report concerning Aurora, Colorado, shooter James Holmes.Former New York Times reporter Judy Miller – who spent 85 days in jail in 2005 for withholding her source regarding the Valerie Plame affair – told NewsMaxTV’s Steve Malzberg Monday, “If this were CNN or if this were the New York Times, yeah, I think it’s almost certain that there would have been more coverage and more publicity than there’s been to date (video follows with transcript and absolutely no need for additional commentary):
Actully, Sheppard did need to add one bit of additional commentary: the fact that Miller is a paid Fox News contributor, something that may have played a role in her speaking out on Jana Winter.
Sheppard would likely not have let financial considerations go unmentioned if a paid contributor for a “liberal” network defended a reporter for the same network.