Miller's Times Return Delayed

It looks like Judith Miller won't be returning to the New York Times newsroom Monday morning. Last week, the Times asked Miller to cut short her leave of absence and return to the paper Monday or Tuesday in an "unspecified editing" role, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

Previously, the Times had been negotiating with Miller about leaving the paper, discussing severance pay and a joint statement about her departure.

But both proposals--Miller going and Miller staying--have stalled out on the same negotiating point: Miller's desire to publish an op-ed in the Times to rebut her critics.

Miller is insistent, sources on both sides of the negotiation said, on getting a forum to rebut public criticisms of her by executive editor Bill Keller, columnist Maureen Dowd and public editor Byron Calame. With the Times unwilling to grant Miller the space, the negotiations are at an impasse.