(Un)Covering the Narrative Industry

MARCY WHEELER

TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2008
LUNCH 11:30 a.m., LECTURE 12:00 p.m.

Marcy Wheeler, who blogs under the name ‘emptywheel’, rose to prominence in the summer of 2005 when she began writing about the CIA leak case. Had New York Times reporter Judith Miller gone to prison to protect the First Amendment? Or was she part of someone’s alibi, protecting a White House source who may have helped expose a CIA agent? Wheeler’s prescient inquiries, developed entirely from public sources and close analysis of mainstream press accounts, illuminated the inconsistencies and contradictions in the then-dominant media narrative about the Fitzgerald investigation. Wheeler’s blogging ultimately resulted in a book published on the eve of the Scooter Libby trial: Anatomy of Deceit: How the Bush Administration Used the Media to Sell the Iraq War and Out a Sp (Vaster, 2007). Wheeler herself “live-blogged” the Libby trial from Washington D.C. for emptywheel.firedoglake.com, her current online home.

A 1990 Amherst graduate, Marcy Wheeler earned a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan. Wheeler believes her academic training gives her a unique edge in analyzing current events and for unpacking suspect narratives in the media. Her doctoral thesis examined the feuilleton, which included early 19th century responses to Napoleonic censorship and self-published, privately-circulated writings of dissident writers in 1970s Czechoslovakia (including playwright Vaclav Havel). Wheeler believes the work of contemporary bloggers echoes the spirit of those who fought censorship and official discourse in previous eras.

When she is not blogging, Wheeler works as a business consultant in Ann Arbor, Michigan.