Funny story: You know the New York Times story this morning on the protests at NYU? Written on the laptop of one of the protest leaders, by her "boy."

Twitter's "emilydont," a self-described organizer of the occupation of an NYU dining hall, seems to be doing her best to make Colin Moynihan's editors at the Times worry he's gone native inside of the food court:


Most journalists would be uncomfortable depending on a source to provide writing and publishing equipment, particularly in the form of a laptop used to log in to sensitive internal newspaper systems. But as any warzone-embedded reporter could tell you, it does happen.

Having covered (and been arrested in) New York protests before, Moynihan has perhaps become adept at smuggling stories out of occupied zones right here in the U.S. So we wouldn't put it past him to cozy up to some NYU co-ed and convince her he's her bud if it makes the difference between filing on deadline or not filing at all. It doesn't mean he's compromised his objectivity.

But it probably does mean he should start assuming that subjects, especially young students, will blog or tweet or Facebook any and every subject-reporter conversation, with absolutely zero regard for what the Times standards editor might think. (Kids these days.)

(Top photo: The Villager, depicting Moynihan's arrest at a protest in 2005.)