"A Good Reporter Doesn't Get Great Stories, A Good Reporter Makes Them Great"
Here's what a lifetime of Superman exposure leads to: even after all I've heard about Judith Miller, it still sounds like the inspiration for a great Lois Lane story.
Judith Miller, of course, is the New York Times reporter whose stories helped support the Bush Administration's case for invading Iraq. Miller's sources were "neocons," people inside and outside the Administration who fed her information about Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction. When that information turned out to be false, Miller's journalistic ethics were questioned, and now the Times is isolating itself from her.
This isn't a political site, so I'm not going to get into the politics surrounding these issues. Instead, from what I have seen and read about Ms. Miller, she strikes me as stubborn and, determined, convinced of the rightness of her story, just like the Lois Lane we all imagine. Lois is probably more likable, thanks to 67 years' worth of accumulated goodwill; and Lois' aggressive traits are clearly a big part of her appeal. In terms of drama, Lois' career both helps make her independent of Superman, and shows the reader why Clark loves her. Indeed, why wouldn't Clark love someone who's on a similar crusade for truth and justice?
Anyway, to me the main thing that ties Judith Miller to Lois is the nature of her secret sources. The common approach to the Judith Miller imbroglio is to say that she "went native." That is, she became so enthralled with the amount of access she was getting, going deeper in and higher up, that she began to think of herself as more than just a reporter. Apparently she thought she had a kind of security clearance which prevented her from discussing state secrets even with her editor. Although I think today's Lois is too skeptical to go native completely, to a certain extent the same situation could apply to her -- especially a circumstance where she couldn't reveal a source to Perry without disclosing Superman's secret identity.
More superficially, though, Miller's WMD information came from apparently-trustworthy sources, and likewise Lois gets scoops through Superman. Regardless, what if Superman turns out to be wrong in a big way, such as to a degree rivaling Iraq's missing weapons? What implications would that have for Lois' career, her marriage, and even the public's relationship with Superman? I'm not talented enough to write that story, but I know I'd read it.
In recent years, DC has come close to this scenario. After the "Our Worlds At War" crossover, Clark Kent wrote a story saying that President Luthor knew about the alien invasion and did nothing to prevent it. When Clark couldn't prove the allegations, Luthor got him fired from the Daily Planet as a consequence. Another story, written by Joe Kelly for JLA, had President Luthor try to convince the Justice League to invade a foreign country based on shaky intelligence (to say the least). Still, in the first story Clark was right; and in the second the JLA wasn't fooled. Moreover, although Clark was disgraced temporarily, somehow I doubt that would have the same impact on him as a blow to her journalistic integrity would have on Lois. In his heart, Clark is Superman, but in hers, Lois is a reporter.
If I were writing this story, I'd find some way to give it a happy ending. (I'm kind of an old softie that way.) Maybe have Lois work at a weekly alternative paper or a magazine for a while, and then have her suss out a story -- without Superman's help, mind you -- that redeems her in the eyes of the public and earns her a spot on the Planet staff again. Of course, that's the advantage of fiction. I doubt there's a happy ending waiting for Judith Miller.
Judith Miller, of course, is the New York Times reporter whose stories helped support the Bush Administration's case for invading Iraq. Miller's sources were "neocons," people inside and outside the Administration who fed her information about Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction. When that information turned out to be false, Miller's journalistic ethics were questioned, and now the Times is isolating itself from her.
This isn't a political site, so I'm not going to get into the politics surrounding these issues. Instead, from what I have seen and read about Ms. Miller, she strikes me as stubborn and, determined, convinced of the rightness of her story, just like the Lois Lane we all imagine. Lois is probably more likable, thanks to 67 years' worth of accumulated goodwill; and Lois' aggressive traits are clearly a big part of her appeal. In terms of drama, Lois' career both helps make her independent of Superman, and shows the reader why Clark loves her. Indeed, why wouldn't Clark love someone who's on a similar crusade for truth and justice?
Anyway, to me the main thing that ties Judith Miller to Lois is the nature of her secret sources. The common approach to the Judith Miller imbroglio is to say that she "went native." That is, she became so enthralled with the amount of access she was getting, going deeper in and higher up, that she began to think of herself as more than just a reporter. Apparently she thought she had a kind of security clearance which prevented her from discussing state secrets even with her editor. Although I think today's Lois is too skeptical to go native completely, to a certain extent the same situation could apply to her -- especially a circumstance where she couldn't reveal a source to Perry without disclosing Superman's secret identity.
More superficially, though, Miller's WMD information came from apparently-trustworthy sources, and likewise Lois gets scoops through Superman. Regardless, what if Superman turns out to be wrong in a big way, such as to a degree rivaling Iraq's missing weapons? What implications would that have for Lois' career, her marriage, and even the public's relationship with Superman? I'm not talented enough to write that story, but I know I'd read it.
In recent years, DC has come close to this scenario. After the "Our Worlds At War" crossover, Clark Kent wrote a story saying that President Luthor knew about the alien invasion and did nothing to prevent it. When Clark couldn't prove the allegations, Luthor got him fired from the Daily Planet as a consequence. Another story, written by Joe Kelly for JLA, had President Luthor try to convince the Justice League to invade a foreign country based on shaky intelligence (to say the least). Still, in the first story Clark was right; and in the second the JLA wasn't fooled. Moreover, although Clark was disgraced temporarily, somehow I doubt that would have the same impact on him as a blow to her journalistic integrity would have on Lois. In his heart, Clark is Superman, but in hers, Lois is a reporter.
If I were writing this story, I'd find some way to give it a happy ending. (I'm kind of an old softie that way.) Maybe have Lois work at a weekly alternative paper or a magazine for a while, and then have her suss out a story -- without Superman's help, mind you -- that redeems her in the eyes of the public and earns her a spot on the Planet staff again. Of course, that's the advantage of fiction. I doubt there's a happy ending waiting for Judith Miller.
posted by Tom Bondurant @ 3:40 PM
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