Jodi Kantor

A lot of weird stuff happens between the ages of

16 and 25, and life kind of evens out afterwards.

And then also, to say the obvious, journalism is actually quite professional and rigorous at its best.

And I just, I didn't know enough to know that.

How did the spectator or the editors at the time of the spectator allow something so vitriolic and so personal about another student to grace the pages of the newspaper?

Why didn't they intervene?

I don't know.

You know, it's really a question for them.

I think they didn't know the basic rules of journalism.

I think those students from 1996 would be shocked if they could come into The New York Times today and see the way we deliberate.

And we parse and we agonize over the right thing to do and the right word in every situation.

I also think, and I say this to student journalists all the time, their jobs are harder than mine.

They are not paid.

They have no experience.

They are flying by the seat of their pants.

Yeah, I think they were running a newspaper at a young age without any experience.

I tried really hard to find out who this person is.

1996, there's not a lot of online archives of student newspapers.

Oh, no, I have his name and I still can't find him.

Because remember, I'm an investigative reporter.