New York Magazine reports that its esteemed Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi is on leave after disclosing that she had violated the publication’s standards because she had a personal relationship with a previous reporting subject.
The newsletter status, that brought the story to lightand the New York Times both cite unnamed sources who identify Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the other person who interacted with Nuzzi. She has not confirmed Kennedy’s involvement, and Kennedy said in a statement that he met her only once.
David Haskell, editor in chief of New York Magazine, said in a note to staff on Friday that Nuzzi told them the relationship began last December “after we published her November profile.” Her only published profile that month was that of Kennedy. The relationship reportedly ended in August, he wrote.
It is an explosive development for the magazine and Nuzzi, whose Piece with an interview featuring Donald Trump, “A Look Inside Donald Trump’s Ear and Soul,” was featured on the recent cover. Haskell said online versions of the Trump story and one Nuzzi wrote about Biden this summer will direct readers to a note explaining the situation.
In the statement released late Thursday, New York officials said Nuzzi would not have been allowed to cover the presidential campaign if the newspaper had known about the connection.
New York said an internal review of her work found no inaccuracies or evidence of bias, but Nuzzi was on leave while a more thorough third-party review was conducted.
“We regret this breach of trust by our readers,” the magazine said. A spokeswoman had no further comment. A spokeswoman for Kennedy, who is married to actress Cheryl Hines, did not immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press.
Nuzzi said in a statement to Status that in early 2024, the nature of the communications between her and a former individual who was the subject of the reporting had become personal in nature.
“During that time, I did not directly report on the issue, nor did I use her as a source,” she said. “The relationship was never physical, but should have been disclosed to avoid the appearance of a conflict. I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I disappointed, especially my colleagues in New York.”
Haskell said New York editors “learned about the personal nature of Olivia’s relationship a few days ago.” He was told the relationship ended in August.
In her Story about Kennedy’s election campaign In his book, “The Mind-Distorting Politics of RFK Jr.’s Spoiler Campaign,” published last November, Nuzzi described a harrowing car ride and a short hike with Kennedy and his dogs during the interview.
His name appeared in an article from March 2024 in the New York Times, where Nuzzi, Frank Bruni and Joe Klein discussed the state of the campaign at the time. “We forget or willfully ignore something quite important about this election: It’s not a race between two men. It’s a race between three men,” Nuzzi said, noting that Kennedy was “competitive in the polls” at the time.
Status quoted a Kennedy spokesman as saying, “Mr. Kennedy met Olivia Nuzzi only once in her life for an interview she requested, which earned him a defamatory article.”
In the Politico newsletter “Playbook,” Ryan Lizza, Nuzzi’s ex-fiancé, wrote Friday afternoon: “Because of my connection to this story … my editors and I have agreed that I will not participate in any coverage of Kennedy in the Playbook or elsewhere at Politico.”
___
David Bauder writes about media for AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.
