Shattered Glass Page #6

attended a public school before.

- More?

- Please.

This guy Joe Hiert was described

in the Glass piece

as being this a former

basketball agent,

yet no one by that name has ever

been registered with the NBA

and none of my hackers

knew of him.

I even checked the names

of every government...

I was just getting some coffee.

I checked the names of every

government employee quoted in the piece,

against a book listing the names

of every government employee

in the entire United States.

None of the Glass sources were listed.

But there is one thing

in this story that checks out.

What's that?

There does appear to be a state

in the Union named Nevada.

David.

- For Christ's sakes.

- God, I'm sorry, Stephen.

I wanted to see if you read it yet.

It was sitting right here, you know?

Don't hate me, okay?

Stephen, you shredded it.

I'm trying to spare you

a spanking, David.

You've got blind quotes

all over the place.

Your facts are shaky.

I mean...

The line about the turnover

at DOT

was low by / %,

I checked.

Of course you did.

Rob and Aaron would kill you

over that kind of stuff.

This is The New Republic,

remember?

Nothing slides here. If you don't have

it cold, you don't turn it in, ever.

Okay.

Look, bring me your notes later,

and we'll go through it together.

There's a lot about it

that I liked.

- Really?

- Really.

And get back to work, okay?

The mailroom floor needs scrubbing.

Okay.

Thanks, Stephen.

"You have one

unheard message. First message. "

Hi, Stephen, this is Adam Penenberg,

from Forbes Digital Tool.

I just got done reading

your hacker article.

First of all,

congratulations.

I mean, everybody here

just loved it.

But we wanted to do

a companion piece to it,

sort of a "Day Two" story...

and I'm having some trouble

tracking down Ian Restil.

Do you think I could get

a phone number on him from you?

Look, I think it's good

that you tried this.

It's good to stretch.

I just...

I don't think you're writing

to your strengths here.

- I mean...

- Can I?

I'm wondering why you'd want to stray

from the things you do so well?

Have you noticed the way

Steve's phone

has been ringing lately?

Did you see all those editors

at the Correspondents' Dinner?

- The way they were circling him?

- Is that what you want, Amy?

To get a bunch of smoke blown

up your ass by a pack of editors?

Yes.

Yes, it is.

Caitlin, he's going

to double his salary

freelancing like that.

These guys don't want

policy pieces anymore.

They want color,

they want nuance, humor.

But Amy,

you don't write funny.

It's a little funny...

isn't it?

- I was just looking for Steve.

- He's in his office.

- You got a minute, Steve?

- Yeah.

Do you have phone numbers

for sources on the "Hack Heaven" piece?

- Mm-hm, but they're at home.

- Can I get them?

Of course. Did I do something wrong?

Are you mad at me?

No, I just need

the phone numbers.

Okay.

Okay. Okay, I'm trying

to keep cool about all this, but...

you know the "Uniform Computer

Security Act," in the Glass piece?

Supposed to be under debate

in state legislatures?

I just checked off ...

no such act.

Beautiful.

And Julie Farthwork,

from the "Computer Security Center"?

Not too sure she exists either.

Same with Jim Ghort of the "Center

for Interstate Online Investigations."

And I've got nothing

on the "National Assembly

of Hackers," or "Frank Juliet."

Man!

Do you know why this is so great?

I mean, do you see the irony here?

The New Republic,

snobbiest rag in the business...

"the in-flight magazine

of Air Force One"...

and their star goes out and gets

completely snowed by a bunch of hackers.

I mean, God couldn't have

written this any better.

- Adam?

- Yeah?

As long as I'm grinding away

on this thing,

any chance you'd share

your byline with me?

Forget it.

We're in uncharted

territory here, Adam...

an online magazine

going after a giant.

You should have somebody

beside you to take some of the flak

in case this thing blows up.

- Gosh, that's touching.

- You're completely swamped.

You're behind on the Kim Polese piece.

I know it's due Friday.

I'll get to it.

Everything that I'm working

on is so-- dull,

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