NY Times reporter reporter paid for information

The New York Times acknowledged Tuesday that a reporter who wrote an acclaimed 2005 article about a teenage Internet pornographer helped gain the boy's trust by sending him a $2,000 check.

Former Times staff writer Kurt Eichenwald made the payment in June 2005 to Justin Berry, who at the time was an 18-year-old star in a seedy network of child-porn sites.

Six months later, Berry became the leading figure in Eichenwald's expose on Web sex sites run by teenagers. The Times investigation prompted congressional hearings, led to arrests and fueled reforms in the way Web-hosting companies screen their clients.

The story also garnered attention for the unusual relationship between Eichenwald and his primary subject.

In the months before the story ran, Eichenwald persuaded Berry to quit the porn business, stop using drugs and become a law enforcement informant.

The Times outlined the unorthodox nature of the intervention in a sidebar accompanying its original report and in a follow-up column by the paper's public editor, Byron Calame.
Times editors, however, said they were unaware that Eichenwald had also given the teen money.

"The check should have been disclosed to editors and readers, like the other actions on the youth's behalf," the paper said in a note published Tuesday.

Link to story: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/03/06/D8NMRRRG0.html