New York says Nuzzi’s conduct was “a violation of the magazine’s standards regarding conflicts of interest and disclosures” and apologizes for what it calls “this breach of trust of our readers.” Nuzzi subsequently apologized for not disclosing their “personal” relationship sooner. Neither Nuzzi nor New York mention RFK Jr. by name, but neither has denied reports clarifying that he is the person they are talking about.
The news is also a big deal for the journalist who broke the story: Former CNN reporter Oliver Darcy left the news channel in August and founded Status, his own one-man newsletter. Since then, Darcy has had a series of high-profile revelations – but none of them have come anywhere close to the impact this one had on the media world.
(Please note that there are multiple disclosures: Darcy formerly worked at Business Insider; I worked for Vox Media, the company that owns New York magazine, from 2015 to 2023; Vox Media now produces and distributes my weekly Channels podcast.)
I asked Darcy about the significance of the story and for an update on his newsletter business, which is barely a month old. Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.
Explain to a normal person who doesn’t spend much time thinking about media why this is a story.
It’s a journalistic story because it presents a conflict of interest. Olivia is one of the most well-known journalists in America, and she wrote arguably one of the most consequential articles of the 2024 campaign about what she called the conspiracy of silence to protect Joe Biden. And since readers didn’t know that this relationship with RFK existed, it raises questions about conflict of interest because RFK was an active participant in the 2024 campaign.
That’s why it’s a story. Not because she was in a relationship with someone, but because it raises sensitive questions for the magazine and for her, namely, “Was their reporting influenced by that relationship?” She says it wasn’t, and maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it wasn’t at all. But at least it’s a perception issue. And that’s why it’s important.
Her influence on American politics can hardly be overestimated. For example, she has interviewed Donald Trump several times, including for an article published earlier this month. She is arguably one of the best-known magazine writers in the country.
Oliver Darcy (left) has uncovered one of the biggest scoops of the political year. Last year he attended the White House Correspondents Dinner with CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Did you have any concerns about pursuing the story and then publishing it? Was there a part of you that said, “I know this is important, it’s important for journalism, but it’s also about people’s private lives. Maybe this doesn’t have to be a story.”
I’ve been thinking about it. Because I approach stories as a human being, or at least I try to. And I know that would have a lot of consequences. I know Olivia too, and I knew her and I revealed that in the story – I’ve been friends with her for many years.
For these reasons, it was not an easy story to publish. But it is a story, and I believe that these things are important here. It is also my job.
Every big story I’ve ever done weighs heavily on my conscience. Even with other stories where I don’t feel as much sympathy for the person involved, it’s still difficult to publish a story that you know is going to have huge consequences for someone. I don’t take it lightly at all.
After you published your story and New York Magazine issued a statement, Nuzzi published her own statement that may change the perception of the story. She said she did not have a physical relationship, but there was communication. Did you know before publication that this was her version of the story?
Knowing there was an inappropriate relationship between the two, I printed out everything I could print at the time.
If it turns out that it wasn’t actually a physical relationship and it was something else, does that change the meaning of the story and what could happen?
I don’t think so. I really don’t. I think that should have been disclosed, as she said. And as New York Magazine said, I think they take that pretty seriously. She should have been banned from covering the presidential campaign for that reason. So I think that’s still a very big deal.
This is also the biggest story you’ve published since you started, right?
This is definitely the biggest story since we started.
How is the new business going?
Really good. The response to it was great. Lots of people signed up straight away. But insider tips also increase readership, so I tried to get some of those.
How many readers do you have? How many subscribers do you have?
I really don’t want to give it away at the moment, but I’m happy with it.
What difference does it make if you do this 100% on your own versus if you do it mostly on your own but at CNN?
A lot of it has stayed the same because it’s the same work I did at CNN. But you lose some of the infrastructure and a little of that support system. It’s a little harder when you’re on your own and you’re not part of a giant machine, especially when you’re covering a story as complicated as the one we’re talking about.
Speaking of the media business, I was surprised when you launched it as a subscription product. Obviously, there has been a big trend in the media industry over the years towards subscriptions. But what you did before was free. There are a lot of media journalists who are free. Why did you decide to make it a paid product?
I have a business to run. And I think people should pay for journalism that they think is good.
I would love it if there was a way to offer good journalism for free. And I think we’re seeing that even with channels like CNN that are on the verge of launching subscriptions, the only real option is to charge for journalism because it’s very expensive.
Just for me: I have to pay for access to Getty Images. I have to pay for legal insurance. I have to pay for the infrastructure of a website. I have to pay for all of these things before I even get to paying rent. So it’s expensive, and if you want to support good journalism, I think you should pay for it.
And so I can really tell my readers that this is a 100% independent product. They are supporting my independent voice, and if they want that, they have to pay a subscription.
To sum it up, do you think last night’s news will get you more subscriptions? Could you imagine that people signed up in real time last night?
Of course, yes. You can see people signing up in real time.
