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I spent part of today watching a video feed of the congressional testimony of Justin Berry and Kurt Eichenwald. Berry, you may remember, was the subject of Eichenwald's extraordinary New York Times story headlined "Through His Webcam, a Boy Joins a Sordid Online World." (I wrote about it in December.) When Berry was 13, he got drawn into the world of online pornography, and today he and Eichenwald appeared before the House Energy and Commerce Committee as part of a hearing on sexual exploitation of children over the Internet.

When Eichenwald first wrote the story, he was criticized by some media observers, including Slate's Jack Shafer, who wrote that he admired the piece but was "astonished at how [Eichenwald] loses control of his 6,500-word investigation when he appears two-thirds through it to serve not as a reporter but as the legal advocate and protector of the now 19-year-old Berry." Eichenwald further tested the appropriate role for a journalist with today's testimony, something he acknowledged in his opening comments. Here's how he opened, according to the transcript emailed to me by the committee:

My name is Kurt Eichenwald and I am a senior writer with the New York Times. My appearance today is somewhat unusual. As a matter of policy, the Times instructs its reporters to decline requests to testify in judicial and legislative settings, because it can serve to undermine our work if we are seen by the public as an extension of the government. In this instance, the Times accepted a subpoena from the committee on my behalf after the committee agreed that I would be asked to provide only published or publicly disclosed information. To the extent that the committee seeks information about reporting processes, I will have to respectfully decline to answer. Nor do I believe it is my place to offer policy suggestions. But, within that framework, I offer the following testimony, which may assist the committee in its exploration of this important issue.

When Eichenwald finished, U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told Eichenwald that he appreciated him coming. He then cautioned Eichenwald against acting like he was doing the committee "a favor" by appearing. When the committee tells you to testify, Barton said, you testify, whether you like it or not.

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Anyone need a reminder that the New York Times is a great newspaper? Well, here you go: Kurt Eichenwald's heartbreaking story about a 13-year-old boy who got sucked into the world of online child pornography via his webcam. It began when someone offered Justin Berry $50 to take his shirt off, and from there escalated to the point where he was being paid thousands of dollars to have sex in front of the camera.



And that's just the beginning. The Times pulled out all the stops on the story: In addition to Eichenwald's lengthy story, they offer video of Eichenwald's interview with Berry, a story about the nature of Berry's customers (many work with children), a piece on how the web invigorated the child pornography trade, and, perhaps most fascinatingly, Eichenwald's reporter's essay that details the story behind the story.



It's a doozy. Eichenwald identified himself as a "fan" of Berry, not a reporter, and began an online conversation that went on for weeks; he then proposed that they meet in Los Angeles. There he identified himself as a reporter to Berry, who was shocked but agreed to speak to Eichenwald:

Over the next two days, I interviewed the person I now knew was Justin Berry. By then, I was aware that Justin was addicted to cocaine and marijuana. With no expectation that he would agree, I asked him to stop. I also urged Justin to quit responding to messages from his adult admirers. Justin agreed to both requests.



Today, he has a simple explanation for why he listened so readily. "I didn't want to die," he said. "The things I was involved in were horrible, but I could never find a way out. I wanted for it all to end so badly, so I was ready to do anything."



Days after the initial meeting, Justin called, sounding terribly upset. A man was visiting him who, I believed from our interview, had molested Justin in the past and had provided him drugs to keep him compliant. Given the situation, Times editors agreed to fly Justin from Bakersfield, Calif., to Dallas, where I could interview him while he worked through his drug withdrawal.

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