She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey

Author:Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey [Kantor, Jodi & Twohey, Megan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780525560340
Google: RkSwDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2019-09-10T20:30:28.136480+00:00

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An hour later, Judd called Jodi.

The actress was as composed as ever. “I’m prepared to be a named source in your investigation,” she said. She had thought deeply on the decision, gone for a run in the woods, consulted her lawyers, considered her obligations as a woman and a Christian, and decided this was just the right thing to do, she said.

Standing amid the neat lines of glass wall and gray carpet, Jodi lost it, like a marathoner collapsing at the finish line. She and Megan had spent months living in a state of suspense and responsibility. They would land the story or they would blow it; they would get actresses on the record or they would not. Weeping, Jodi searched for something to say to Judd that was equal to the moment but still professional. The best she could muster was: “This means the world to me as a journalist.”

The rest of the team was standing down the hall in a cluster, and Jodi walked toward them, still on the phone with Judd, gesturing to say that she had news. Megan knew what was happening before Jodi could say it.

They celebrated by rewriting the story draft. The lede, or beginning, was Judd’s long-ago account from the Peninsula suite, and the first section of the article ended with a quote of Judd’s that was also a call to action: “Women have been talking about Harvey amongst ourselves for a long time, and it’s simply beyond time to have the conversation publicly.” By that evening, they had a new version of the article, with Judd on the record.

Meanwhile, Corbett prevailed: They would give Weinstein until noon the next day, Wednesday, October 4. That became the new target publication date for the article. Internally, the reporters set their clocks and expectations.

At nine o’clock that Tuesday night, the journalists were still at the office, eating takeout and sweating over the story draft. Their hum of anxiety was nothing compared to what was going on at The Weinstein Company, a few miles to the south, where Weinstein was on an emergency conference call with Boies and the board. Maerov had insisted on the meeting, outraged that Weinstein had hired lawyers and Davis’s firm to deal with a story that the board knew nothing about.

Boies did most of the talking. After years of minimizing Weinstein’s problems to the board, he was suddenly more forthright. The Times story was coming, he told them, and “it’s going to be bad” for the company, participants in the call later recalled to Megan. He outlined the conclusions, including the eight to twelve settlements, adding that the number could very well be higher. He didn’t think Weinstein in fact remembered how many payoffs he had made to women over the years, he said. Defending Weinstein or terminating him were both extreme and inappropriate, Boies argued. The goal was to find a middle ground and present a unified front. “Guys, if we don’t stick together, this is going to be like a circular firing squad,” he said.

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