Miller Rite

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeFormer New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning scribe Judith Miller is a new staffer at conservative periodical Newsmax, according to www.businessinsider.com.

Miller, who most recently has worked as an on-air commentator and Web site contributor for Fox News, left the Times in 2005 in a swirl of controversy surrounding her coverage of the as-yet-to-be-found Weapons of Mass Destruction allegedly amassed by the late Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein.  The Times later published a mea culpa concerning its erroneous coverage of the WMD lead-up to the Iraq invasion, essentially conceding that  Bush Administration sources had played Miller like a flute.

Miller testified at the trial of White House aide  Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who was accused of leaking information about CIA operative Valerie Plame. Miller spent 85 days in jail for civil contempt based on her initial refusal to testify on First Amendment grounds.

The Business Insider reports that Miller's first foray for Newsmax will appear in January 2011, and concern the Mideast drug trade. "TUOL" wonders if she'll discover "SMI"s (Substances of Mass Intoxication).

Suitors Line Up to Buy Fading Newsweek

Image via Wikipedia

Bloomberg News and The New York Times today provided the scorecard of potential buyers who submitted bids before the deadline imposed by The Washington Post, which is desperate to unload financially troubled Newsweek magazine.

Among the purported bidders is the Los-Angeles based private equity fund OpenGate Capital LLC, which purchased TV Guide for $1 in 2008, and hedge fund manager Thane Ritchie of Richie Capital Management LLC, who stumbled in his bid to acquire the Sun Times Media Group in 2009. Also in the running is Newsmax Media, which fronts a conservative publication and Website. The New York Times reports that 91-year-old Harmon Kardor founder Sidney Harmon also was readying a bid. Newsweek managing editor Jon Meachem, who scoured the countryside for investors to help him submit a bid, was quiet as the Post deadline lapsed yesterday.

Newsweek has bled $44 million since 2007 (see "TUOL" post 5/7/10). Last year, advertising revenue for the newsweekly sank 39 percent to $70.3 million from $115.5 million in 2008.