Olivia Nuzzi fell from grace following a romance with her source, RFK Jr. Here’s what went wrong
Nuzzi recently released a memoir, “American Canto” about what happened with RFK Jr., but journalism experts said her mishap could’ve been avoided.
New York magazine writer Olivia Nuzzi was known for her political reporting and profiles until October 2024, when news broke that she allegedly had a romantic entanglement with one of her subjects, then-Republican presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Nuzzi lost her job and disappeared from public life until recently. On Dec. 2, she released a book, “American Canto,” in which she outlines her relationship with “the politician,” as she calls her affair partner in the book. Many deduced she’s referring to Kennedy as she describes how she advised him on campaign issues, such as when Kennedy disclosed that he dropped a bear carcass in Central Park.
Northeastern University journalism experts said it’s not uncommon for conflicts of interest to arise while reporting. But the trouble with Nuzzi’s case is that she never disclosed her alleged relationship with Kennedy and continued covering politics while also allegedly using her role to help Kennedy’s campaign.
“It’s just ethically wrong,” said John Wihbey, an associate journalism professor at Northeastern. “You can’t participate in the very journalism you’re going to cover. She has done some good journalism … but once you cross these lines, it calls into question everything you’ve ever reported. The bedrock of professional ethical journalism is independence and avoiding conflicts of interest so readers and audiences can trust your integrity.”
The rule of thumb for journalists is to maintain professional yet distant relationships with sources, said Northeastern experts. Having too close a relationship with a source can make people question the integrity of one’s reporting, and whether a story is done because it’s the truth or because it’s making the subject look better.
Wihbey, who is also the director of Northeastern’s AI-Media Strategies Lab, said some of this can go back to “access journalism,” a highly contested practice in which journalists rely on personal access to produce splashy stories. This type of journalism, he said, is common when reporting on notoriously exclusive industries like politics or entertainment. While it’s an easier path in getting scoops, Wihbey said it can compromise integrity in the long term.
“Journalism is hard in these sorts of pressure cooker circumstances,” Wihbey said. “But (Nuzzi) has chosen a road that is not going to build a reputation of integrity. In the short run, you might get scoops, but in the long run … the very best journalists are the ones who cultivate this reputation of sterling integrity and trustworthiness.”
Most reporters adhere to standard journalism ethics where they do not accept anything of monetary value from sources and avoid involving themselves with sources and doing anything to interfere with a story. Some go so far as not taking a glass of water from a subject or refraining from voting to avoid compromising themselves.
“It’s important to keep sources at an arm’s length and avoid anything that could be a conflict of interest, real or perceived, because perception is as important as the actual conflicts,” said Meg Heckman, an associate journalism professor at Northeastern. “You want the audience to trust you and trust that you are reasonably independent and you will be transparent.”
In the case of Nuzzi and Kennedy, the lines are clear. Nuzzi was covering D.C. for New York magazine when the publication placed her on leave for engaging in a “personal relationship” that “violated the magazine’s standards around conflicts of interest and disclosures.”
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Media outlets later reported that she had a relationship with then-Republican presidential candidate (and current Secretary of Health and Human Services) Kennedy, whom she had previously profiled for the magazine. Kennedy’s representatives said the two only met on one occasion. Nuzzi put out a statement saying that she had a relationship with an unnamed reporting subject that “turned personal.”
In “American Canto,” Nuzzi refers to Kennedy, but never says his name, writing that said he would “take a bullet” for her during their mostly digital relationship.
“I loved his brain,” she writes of Kennedy. “Others thought he was a madman; he was not quite mad the way they thought, but I loved the private ways that he was mad. I loved that he was insatiable in all ways, as if he would swallow up the whole world just to know it better if he could.”
Heckman, who studies feminist media history and contemporary local news sustainability, said Nuzzi’s actions are harmful in that they not only compromise her integrity but also reinforce negative stereotypes around women in news. Many journalism films already portray female reporters sleeping with sources, Heckman said, perpetuating a false narrative and a public example of this happening is harmful.
“It reinforces tropes around the hypersexuality of women journalists,” she added. “What two consenting adults do in their free time is between them, but in this case, she had a duty to maintain journalistic independence.”
However, much of the scandal around this situation could’ve been avoided through disclosure, Heckman said. There are many cases where journalists have relationships with sources, whether they’re preexisting or develop over the course of reporting.
What most reporters are expected to do in this situation is disclose their conflict to their editors and sometimes to the readers. For example, Wihbey said Casey Newton, founder and editor of the tech and democracy-focused publication Platformer, has a disclosure on his website about the fact that his boyfriend works as an engineer for a company he covers. In this policy, he outlines the relationship to readers and how the two keep their work separate to avoid compromising Newton’s integrity.
Reporters and editors often decide together how a writer can navigate a conflict if one arises.
“Transparency and disclosure are really important,” Heckman added. “Journalists are not monks. We have social lives. You just need to be aware and disclose to your editor if something happens. … Journalism ethics is a balancing act between maximizing information and transparency with the audience while minimizing harm to vulnerable parties. You want to conduct yourself in a way that’s going to be transparent.”
