(Judy) Miller At Gates, Negotiating Exit With Sulzberger

http://www.nyobserver.com/pageone_offtherec.asp

Miller At Gates, Negotiating Exit With Sulzberger

The end of The New York Times’ five-week standoff with reporter Judith Miller appears to be near. As of Nov. 8, the two sides were closing in on a severance agreement, according to sources familiar with the negotiation.

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The rank and file shared the executive editor’s stance. “There is a quiet rebellion in the newsroom,” a longtime staffer said. “They don’t want her back.”

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Ms. Miller and her lawyers signaled that they were specifically displeased with—and might consider legal action about—Mr. Keller’s use of the word “entanglement” in his memo to describe Ms. Miller’s connections with now-indicted Vice Presidential aide I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby. In the light of long-circulating gossip about Ms. Miller’s romantic life, that word choice led to widespread speculation and mockery. In a follow-up phone conversation, Ms. Miller described the insinuation as “completely untrue.”

“Many people—many other journalists—assumed that there was an improper relationship,” Ms. Miller said in Sag Harbor. “Many people assumed there was a sexual relationship, which is one reason I’m so insistent on that, on his clarifying . I’ll be diplomatic, O.K.? I call it a correction. And at The New York Times, we call it a correction …. But I’ll settle for a, quote, ‘clarification.’”