‘I agonized over it:’ Behind the scenes with the reporter who uncovered the RFK Jr./Olivia Nuzzi story.

Did you have any qualms about pursuing and then publishing the story? Was there any part of you that said, “I know this is important, it’s important for journalism, but it’s also people’s private lives. Maybe this doesn’t need to be a story.”

I agonized over it. Because I approach stories, or try to at least, as a human being. And I know that this would have a lot of consequences. I also know Olivia, and I’ve known her and I disclosed this in the story — I’ve been friends with her for many years.

So, for those reasons, it was not an easy story to publish. But it is a story, and I believe that these things do matter here. It’s also my job.

Any big story that I’ve ever done, it’s always something that weighs on your conscience quite a bit. Even in other stories that I’ve done where I am not as sympathetic to the person involved, it’s still difficult to publish a story that you know is going to have enormous consequences for someone. I don’t take it lightly at all.

After you put out your story and New York magazine put out a statement, Nuzzi put out her own statement, which might change the way people perceive the story. She said she didn’t have a physical relationship, but there was communication. Did you know, prior to publishing, that this was her version of the story?

I knew that there was an inappropriate relationship between the two, and I printed everything that I was able to print at the time.

If it turns out that she really wasn’t having a physical relationship, and that it was something else, does that change the significance of the story, and what might happen?

I don’t think so. I really don’t. I think that, as she said, this should have been disclosed. And as New York magazine said, I think they’re taking this pretty seriously. She wouldn’t have been allowed to continue covering the presidential campaign because of this. So I think it’s still a very big deal.

This is also the biggest story you’ve published since you launched, correct?

This is definitely the biggest story since we launched.

How’s the new business doing?

Really well. The response to it has been great. A lot of people subscribed right away. But scoops also drive readership, and so that’s why I’ve been trying to get some of those.

How many readers do you have? How many subscribers do you have?

I really don’t want to disclose at the moment, but I’m happy with it.

How is life different doing this 100% on your own, as opposed to doing it mostly on your own, but at CNN?

A lot of it’s the same because it’s the same work I was doing at CNN. But you do lose some infrastructure and you do lose a little bit of that support system. It’s a little more challenging when you’re on your own and you’re not as part of a giant machine, especially when reporting a story as complicated as the one that we’re talking about.

Since we’re having a media business conversation now: I was surprised when you launched that you made this a subscription product. Obviously, there’s been a big move in media to subscriptions over the years. But the thing you were doing before was free. There is lots of media journalism out there that is for free. Why did you decide to make this a paid product?

I need to run a business. And I think people should pay for journalism they think is good.

I would love it if there was a way to put good journalism out there for free. And I think we’re really seeing, even with outlets like CNN about to launch subscription products, that the only real way here is to charge money for the journalism because it’s very expensive.

Just for me: I have to pay for Getty Images access. I have to pay for legal insurance. I have to pay for a website infrastructure. I have to pay all these things before I even get to pay rent. So this stuff is expensive, and if you want to support good journalism, I think you should pay for it.

And it’s really the way that I can tell readers that this is 100% an independent product. They’re supporting my independent voice, and so if they want to do that, then they will have to pay for a subscription.

To tie all this together: Do you think last night’s scoop is going to generate more subscriptions for you? Could you see people subscribing in real time last night?

Obviously, yes. You could see people subscribing in real time.