Jodi Kantor

That line was Megan's.

So wait, let me back up and explain something.

There's a key moment in journalism.

That can be hard on any story, especially now in a world of, like, robocalls and, like, who even answers their phone anymore.

It was, like, 10 out of 10 hard on the Weinstein story because the stuff we were asking about was so private.

And these famous people, by the way, spend their lives running away from prying eyes.

So I had actually been getting somewhere on the story and people were talking to me.

But I called Megan to say, like, how can I sharpen this further?

And that's when she said that line.

And that even though she was still on maternity leave, that's when we really became partners.

There was like a click.

Because that line, Debbie, is for me everything that journalism is about, especially investigative journalism where people are taking risks in order to help you report secrets.

They are making donations of information in the public interest.

And listen, do people sometimes have like sketchy reasons for giving out information?

They're self-interested, they're manipulative, whatever.

I don't find that those sources tend to go the distance.

The sources who go the distance and are involved in truly great work are doing it because they care about other people and they want to help in some way.

They say, I have this knowledge and I realize I can no longer sit with it.

And you know, my job is not to tell them what to do.

It's their decision.