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NYT reporters who broke Weinstein story to write book on sexual abuse

Big news for Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.

Harvey Weinstein, CREDIT: Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx
2016
2/10/16
Harvey Weinstein at The 2016 amfAR New York Gala.
(NYC)
Harvey Weinstein, CREDIT: Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx 2016 2/10/16 Harvey Weinstein at The 2016 amfAR New York Gala. (NYC)

The two New York Times reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein sex abuse story will write a book on high-profile cases of sexual harassment and abuse.

Their investigation on Weinstein was published in early October and kicked off months of media coverage around Weinstein’s misconduct: decades of harassment, multiple alleged rapes, a pattern of preying on young women and then using his formidable wealth and influence to threaten, smear, and silence them. This reporting didn’t only lead to Weinstein’s downfall, although it did just that; it kicked off months of reporting in the Times and elsewhere about abusive men in positions of power across a whole fleet of industries: Journalism, food, dance, politics, tech, art, music.

New York Times journalist Megan Twohey, left, actress Ashley Judd, and New York Times journalist Jodi Kantor attend The Women's Media Center 2017 Women's Media Awards at Capitale on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017, in New York. CREDIT: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
New York Times journalist Megan Twohey, left, actress Ashley Judd, and New York Times journalist Jodi Kantor attend The Women's Media Center 2017 Women's Media Awards at Capitale on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017, in New York. CREDIT: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Kantor and Twohey’s digging so unnerved Weinstein, the two told Marie Claire, that Weinstein sicced his legal team on them. “It was extremely intense,” Twohey said. “They attacked our reporting and attacked us as individuals.” The two have continued to report on the astonishing scope of Weinstein’s misconduct, most recently in a story on “Weinstein’s complicity machine“: the phalanx of “enablers, silencers and spies” he used to cover up his actions, how he could “turn others into instruments or shields for his behavior.”

The book, which does not yet have a publication date, will be released on Penguin Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. (Penguin and Random House merged in 2013, becoming the biggest publisher in the industry, but missing the opportunity to name the new publishing giant “Random House of Penguins.”)

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In a statement, Ann Godoff, president and editor in chief of Penguin Press, said:

“In this moment of attack on their profession, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s investigative reporting on sexual harassment has proven that the discipline, craft and ethics of journalism can truly spark social change Their book will contextualize and enlarge this important conversation.”