A2 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019
This article was adapted from In Her Words, a Times newsletter on women, gender and
society. The interview has been lightly edited and condensed.Despite years of whispers, when Jodi
Kantor and Megan Twohey began investi-
gating claims of sexual misconduct against
Harvey Weinstein, his name was still syn-
onymous with power. The result was a
bombshell of a story that exposed how
Weinstein paid off sexual harassment
accusers for decades — and began to ex-
pose the web of complicity that allowed it.
Within days, #MeToo had erupted, with
women all over the world sharing their
own stories of sexual harassment and
abuse. Now Ms. Kantor and Ms. Twohey
are telling the story behind the story, in a
book that has been called the feminist “All
the President’s Men.” It’s titled “She Said:
Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story
That Helped Ignite a Movement.” We
spoke to them about their new book, the
ripple effects of #MeToo and what they’ll
tell their daughters when they grow up.The two of you have an incredible
partnership. Why do you think it has been so
successful?
We barely knew each other at the start of
the Weinstein story — we’re like the as-
signed college roommates who ended up
locking together for life. In some ways, our
partnership echoes a theme of our work:
Women can have far more impact together
than separately. We are both very driven,
and our journalistic values match. But we
have slightly different skills and views of
human nature. We just try to correct and
complement each other.
In our book, we’re inviting readers into
our partnership. We want you to see what
we saw, to puzzle over the same clues we
did.Megan’s first day on the Weinstein story was
her first day back from maternity leave, and
Jodi’s younger daughter was 1 and a half.
What did you — or will you — tell your
daughters about your reporting?
When our investigation began, Megan’s
daughter weighed 12 pounds and had
never eaten a bite of solid food. Jodi’s
daughter, at a year and a half, was just
learning to go down the slide at the play-
ground and liked grabbing phones so much
that she had managed to accidentally
FaceTime Ashley Judd.When these girls are much older, and
mature enough to understand terrible
violations, and humiliation, and pain, we
are going to sit them down and tell them
the story of our investigation, and our
team’s work, and how all of us became part
of something much bigger than ourselves.What’s the best career advice you’ve ever
received, and how did you put it to use on this
story?MEGAN TWOHEYOne of my first bosses
told me that if I wasn’t a little scared of my
job every day, it was time to get a new job.
I’ve applied this advice in various ways
over the years. I view that pit in my stom-
ach as a good thing, a signal that I’m tak-
ing on the types of new challenges that will
force me to grow.JODI KANTORDean Baquet, our executive
editor, won’t remember this, but when I
worked for him in the Washington bureau,
covering the Obamas, I set out to write a
book about them and panicked so badly at
the start of the project that I wanted to
give up. I asked him: What if I spend all
those months reporting and don’t learn
anything new? He told me not to make a
decision on that basis. At the outset of a
reporting project, he said, the only test is
whether you’re asking good questions —
hard ones. Otherwise the project was not
worth doing.You broke a story that led to a huge cultural
shift. Do you think it has changed the way we
think about journalism?
Our story helped spur a staggering amount
of change (which had been building for
years, thanks to activists like Tarana
Burke, Anita Hill, legal thinkers, fellow
journalists and many others). That’s the
question we explore in our book — why
thisstory, how does social progress occur,
especially at a time when so much feels
stuck. But we were actually relying on the
classic standards of investigative journal-
ism, tools our colleagues across the news-
room use every day: careful interviewing,
persistent digging, searches for docu-
ments, corroboration.Inside The Times
THE STORY BEHIND THE STORYREBECCA CLARKEThe Story That Started a Movement
Subscribe to the In Her Words newsletter at
nytimes.com/newslettersCORRECTIONS ACROSSWORD COBITUARIES A24-
OPINION A26-TV LISTINGS CWEATHER ACLASSIFIED ADS BThe Newspaper
And BeyondContact the Newsroom
[email protected]Share a News Tip
[email protected] or nytimes.com/tipsContact Customer Care
nytimes.com/contactus
or 1-800-NYTIMES (1-800-698-4637)PHOTO
See all the highlights from the
Spring 2020 London Fashion
Week shows, as captured by pho-
tographers for T: The New York
Times Style Magazine.
tmagazine.comNEWSLETTER
Paul Krugman has been doing
explanatory journalism since
1996, moving from a career as a
world-class economist to writing
hard-hitting opinion columns. For
an even deeper look at what’s on
his mind, sign up for his weekly
newsletter.
nytimes.com/newslettersREADER CENTER
What have you always wanted to
know about New York City and
the people who live here? What
questions do you have about the
city’s culture, politics, economy,
history, climate and institutions?
Send us your questions, and we
may assign a New York Times
reporter to dig into them.
nytimes.com/readersCROSSWORDS
In the monthly “Who Made My
Puzzle?”feature, The Times’s
Wordplay blog introduces you to a
regular Times crossword con-
structor. This month, meet An-
drew Ries, who first solved a
crossword clue at age 5 or 6 and
believes strongly in the impor-
tance of a neutral voice in clues.
nytimes.com/wordplaySeptember 19, 1997. “Stunning a black-tie audience of diplomats and dignitaries at the
annual United Nations Association dinner,” The Times reported, Ted Turner, the founder
of CNN, announced a billion-dollar gift to the U.N., roughly equal to its annual budget,
that would lead to the creation of the nonprofit United Nations Foundation. The gift was a
“spur-of-the-moment” idea Mr. Turner said.
Subscribers can browse the complete Times archives through 2002 at timesmachine.nytimes.com.On This Day in History
A MEMORABLE HEADLINE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMESTED TURNER PLANS A $1 BILLION GIFT
FOR U.N. AGENCIES
The New York Times (ISSN 0362-4331) is published
daily. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and
at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send ad-
dress changes to The New York Times, P.O. Box 8042,
Davenport, IA, 52808-8042.
Mail Subscription Rates* 1 Yr. 6 Mos.
Daily and Sunday.......................$1040.00 $520.
Monday-Saturday.........................780.00 390.
Sunday only ..................................520.00 260.Times Book Review.................................. 1 Yr.$208.
Large Print Weekly.................................. 1 Yr. 114.
Higher rates, available on request, for mail-
ing outside the U.S., or for the New York edi-
tion outside the Northeast: 1-800-631-2580.
*Not including state or local tax.
The Times occasionally makes its list of home deliv-
ery subscribers available to marketing part-ners or third parties who offer products or ser-
vices that are likely to interest its readers. If you
prefer that we do not share this information, please
notify Customer Service, P.O. Box 8042, Davenport,
IA, 52808-8042, or e-mail [email protected].
All advertising published in The New York Times is
subject to the applicable rate card, available from the
advertising department. The Times reserves the right
not to accept an advertiser’s order. Only publication ofan advertisement shall constitute final acceptance.
© 2019, The New York Times Company. All rights
reserved.A. G. Sulzberger, Publisher
Mark Thompson, President and Chief Executive Officer
R. Anthony Benten, Treasurer
Diane Brayton, General Counsel and SecretaryTHE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018-A. G. SULZBERGER
PublisherFounded in 1851ADOLPH S. OCHS
Publisher 1896-ARTHUR HAYS SULZBERGER
Publisher 1935-ORVIL E. DRYFOOS
Publisher 1961-ARTHUR OCHS SULZBERGER
Publisher 1963-ARTHUR OCHS SULZBERGER JR.
Publisher 1992-NEWS
DEAN BAQUETExecutive Editor
JOSEPH KAHNManaging EditorREBECCA BLUMENSTEINDeputy Managing Editor
STEVE DUENESDeputy Managing Editor
MATTHEW PURDYDeputy Managing EditorSAM DOLNICKAssistant Managing Editor
MONICA DRAKEAssistant Managing Editor
MATTHEW ERICSONAssistant Managing Editor
ALISON MITCHELLAssistant Managing Editor
CAROLYN RYANAssistant Managing EditorEDITORIAL
JAMES BENNETEditorial Page Editor
JAMES DAODeputy Editorial Page Editor
KATHLEEN KINGSBURYDeputy Editorial Page EditorBUSINESS
MARK THOMPSONChief Executive Officer
ROLAND A. CAPUTOChief Financial Officer
MEREDITH KOPIT LEVIENChief Operating Officer
DIANE BRAYTONGeneral Counsel and Secretary
NICK ROCKWELLChief Technology Officer
ELLEN C. SHULTZExecutive V.P., Talent and Inclusion
WILLIAM T. BARDEENChief Strategy Officer
R. ANTHONY BENTENChief Accounting Officer, Treasurer
STEPHEN DUNBAR-JOHNSONPresident, International650 MADISON AVENUE
NEW YORK CITY - 212 644 5945800-457-TODSSHOP TODS.COMTOD’S SNEAKER - $The truth
is worth it.
TimesTalks.com/NewsletterKnow
What’s
Now.
KNOW
WHAT’S
NEXT.