A Heartbreaker From Eichenwald And The Times
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:
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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