There are reporters who are stupid. There are reporters who are lazy. There are reporters who are drunk. I'm none of those things. And I didn't want to be judged on my challenges. I wanted to be judged on my work.

I believed that I had enough of a reputation and enough of a track record that, when I say to other journalists, I don't remember, that they could simply accept that — or prove me wrong … But instead, it just became fodder for more attacks — and for people saying, suggesting, that I was obviously hiding something, because I was saying I forgot.

–Kurt Eichenwald defends his motives, claims epileptic seizures (triggering "significant memory loss") caused him to "forget" that he'd given the subject of his child pornography story monetary compensation during the course of his research. [via NPR]