KurtEichenwald.com: The Back Story How a reporter's source came to design his eponymous Web site.
By Jack Shafer
Reporters are supposed to get close to their sources, but what's too close? I criticized New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald for achieving extreme proximity to primary source Justin Berry in the process of investigating his expose on Web-based child pornography.
In the Dec. 19 package, Eichenwald writes of persuading the
19-year-old Berry to quit using drugs and leave the pornography business, into which he was "lured" at the age of 13. Eichenwald also referred Berry to an attorney last summer, introduced him to a doctor, and suggested he seek counseling, which he did. Thanks, in part, to the reporter's efforts, Berry became a witness for federal prosecutors and was granted immunity.In my piece and in a civil e-mail dialogue with Eichenwald that followed (attached to the bottom of my piece), I argued that his intervention into Berry's life had left him too invested in his source's fate to report the story faithfully. Reporters can do good while doing good journalism, but the former can subtly overtake the latter if they're not careful.
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After my Eichenwald article appeared, a reader pointed me to KurtEichenwald.com, a professional-looking Web site promoting Eichenwald's books, his newspaper journalism, and his availability as a speaker through the Lavin Agency. "Copyright 2005-2006 Kurt Eichenwald," read the legend at bottom of the home page.
According to the Whois page on NetworkSolutions.com, KurtEichenwald.com is registered to the author's publisher, Random House, and the page's DNS servers include ns1.xpertcreations.com and ns2.xpertcreations.com.
When I browsed to
Eichenwald says that nobody assigned Berry to design
Eichenwald, who described Berry's computer talents in the Times, says the young man presented him with a mock-up design for an Eichenwald site in late August 2005, when the Times story was still in process. When Berry asked if he could put the site up on
After a couple of weeks, Eichenwald says he was no longer "comfortable" with the site being up. He explains that Berry was in a volatile emotional space during those weeks, and he was glad to give the young man something constructive to do. After Berry had gotten "his head on straight," the creation of the Web site had served its purpose. Eichenwald asked him to pull the plug, which he says Berry did.
What caused the site's resurrection? Eichenwald, who didn't know the site was live again until I notified him, says he called Berry, who explained that he wanted to display his work to someone. Both
Eichenwald doesn't regret letting Berry use the address to showcase his skills.
"In the same circumstances, I'd probably do it again."
Jack Shafer is Slate's editor at large.
Copyright 2006 Slate.com
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