Shattered Glass Page #9

I didn't. That was added

by the copy desk, or during editorial.

Was the hackers' conference

where you met the Jukt executives...

That part of the article

is misleading.

I was never

in the Restils' home at all.

You weren't in Restil's home,

with the Jukt executives?

No, I didn't mean

to imply that I had been.

Sorry about that.

Did the fax come through okay?

Yes, it did.

I think the address must've gotten

garbled. We can't find the site.

- You want to read it back to me?

- Sure.

You gave us

"members.aol.juktn.html."

- Wait. Was that an "M"?

- I'm sorry?

After Jukt, was that an "M,"

as in "Micronics"?

No, it was an "N",

as in "Not working."

- Try "M."

- Okay.

Sorry about that,

I was rushing.

Of course.

But I do find myself

wondering, Stephen.

Why would a major software

company put their website

where only AOL members can

access it, as opposed to the entire Web?

I have no idea.

I don't have a website so I don't really

know that much about them.

I would trust you guys

to know better than me.

Okay. Looks like...

we have

the Jukt website up now.

I have to say, Stephen...

this looks very

suspicious to me.

How so?

Quite frankly,

it doesn't look like a real website.

It looks like a site that was...

created to fool someone.

I don't know much about computers.

Could somebody do that?

Of course.

Very easily.

So easily, in fact,

it's incredible.

Do you still want that number

for Jim Ghort? I found it in my notes.

Yeah, sure.

All right. ...

- Wait.

- Sorry?

"Six-zero-five,"

that's not Nevada.

Oh.

I guess I got him mixed up

with another source.

Er...

Sorry about that one.

Oh, you know what it was?

Jim Ghort was the guy who told me

about the law enforcement officials.

I don't know what I was thinking.

I'm going to have to get you...

Steve.

Give him the number.

This guy is toast.

All right, Stephen,

in light of all this,

how confident are you

in this story of yours?

Are we off the record?

If you like.

Well, off the record...

some of the things

that you've brought up...

the website...

the idea that I was always speaking

to these people through voicemail...

that is, that they were

always calling me...

it didn't seem strange before,

but clearly,

there are some problems with the story.

You've pointed them out.

One portion of it

was structured in a way that...

I just... well...

in light of all this...

I just...

I'm increasingly beginning to believe

that I've been duped.

And so we hang up,

after he's basically let these guys

interrogate me for an hour.

And I go, "Chuck,

wh-what happened?

I mean, why

didn't you back me up?"

He goes, "I'm sorry, Steve,

I've got to protect the magazine.

- I mean, I'm the editor."

- Typical.

He's being such an a**hole.

So I'm dead, pretty much.

Yes, this is Kambiz.

Can we have a talk here?

Just editor to editor?

Sure. Go ahead.

Completely off the record, and really

almost human being to human being?

Of course.

You guys have discovered something

that a troubled kid has done,

but I still don't know

how you plan to play it.

We're not in the business

of "gotcha" journalism here.

I have no interest in embarrassing

you or The New Republic.

I'm not worried about me

or the magazine. That's fair game,

But there's a kid here

who basically,

just plainly, screwed up.

Big time.

His reporting was sloppy,

we know that.

But we're trying to handle it

internally at this point,

just as you would.

Listen, we're going to run

something

along the lines of,

"A trick was pulled,

and some very clever hackers

managed to create an illusion."

I can't tell you

what to print or not to print.

You guys are journalists.

But... he could be very hurt

by what you guys publish. His career.

Chuck, I understand.

I do.

I would hope if I made

the mistakes he made,

people would be

generous with me.

But...

this concerns the very field

we cover.

We have to run it.

And when we do, we're going to need

a comment from you.

So given everything

that's happened,

how strongly are you going

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