Newsweek’s Spiegel story went further than its “Going live” email. In emails Nishizaki posted, a video of her ran by mistake, Ideal Living’s lawyer wrote to the reporter, and the editor said Newsweek was “committed to this story.”

Emails Myra Nishizaki posted on October 22 put dates on the Newsweek story this site reported in September: a note from the reporter, Nick Mordowanec, on February 22, 2025, that a Newsweek video of her had been published by mistake; his note of March 26 that Nick Soltman had emailed him; the editor-in-chief’s assurance of May 8 that Newsweek was “committed to this story”; and the “Going live” of July 31. The story never ran, and Newsweek has not said why. Nishizaki now says a Newsweek assurance is why she settled without damages; the one she has posted came a month after the cases settled. And Karen Jonson, who worked with the two to get the story into the press, says they harassed Newsweek’s staff.

In September this site reported what was then the strongest document in the public record of a Newsweek story on Peter Spiegel: an undated email from the reporter Nick Mordowanec, “Next week. Going live, might be in mag too (TBD). It’s real and it’s spectacular.” Nishizaki’s post of October 22 dates it, July 31, 2025, and adds three emails around it. The story, they show, got further than a draft. A short video of her went up under Newsweek’s name in February 2025, which the reporter called a mistake. In March he wrote that Ideal Living’s lawyer had emailed him. In May the editor-in-chief, answering an email the post does not show, wrote that the magazine was “committed to this story and are in the process of editing it.” It never ran.

NewsweekThe case

The video

Thirty-five seconds under Newsweek’s name, published by mistake, by the reporter’s account.

The post’s thirteenth slide shows a video card under Newsweek’s name, thirty-five seconds long, with Nishizaki on screen, a caption calling her a former Ideal Living employee, and the title “Peter Spiegel’s Former Employee Says She Was Terminated Without...”, cut off where the card ends. The card’s age label reads “4mo,” four months old when the picture was taken. Beneath it is Mordowanec’s email of February 22, 2025:

So by February 22, 2025, sixteen days after Bauman’s email and eleven days after her layoff post, a video about Spiegel’s former employee had gone public under Newsweek’s name. By the reporter’s account it was one of several clips made to run with the story, released ahead of it. Beneath the email the slide highlights two lines, their writer not named: “I can verify that Peter saw that video. And I know this because Soltman told me.” Reckless Ben’s documentary of August 27 says the outlet emailed that it could verify Spiegel saw the clip. When, how, and to whom Soltman said so is not shown.

The lawyer’s email

March 26, 2025, the day after the ruling.

Soltman was Ideal Living’s lawyer in the extortion case against Najar. The correspondence the email refers to was on March 25, 2025, the day Judge Salkin found a substantial probability that the company would prevail on its extortion claim, a finding on a motion for financial discovery. What Soltman wrote to the reporter, and whether it was that ruling, the post does not show. A lawyer writing to a reporter about a story on his client is routine and lawful, and the question the post sets under it, “who is soltman protecting?”, is a question, not evidence.

“Committed to this story”

The editor-in-chief in May; the reporter in July.

Cunningham had taken over from Nancy Cooper that spring, and in March she described a “modest restructuring.” Her assurance came six weeks after Soltman’s email and twelve weeks before Mordowanec’s “Going live.” The story did not go live. Mordowanec’s last Newsweek byline was on February 19, 2026.

On October 25, writing on Reddit, Nishizaki tied her own settlement to an assurance from Newsweek: “I agreed to release my claims against Peter and the company for their past conduct because Newsweek had assured us it was committed to publishing its investigation.” In another thread the same day she wrote, “I resolved my claims without receiving damages because I believed the Newsweek story was coming out.” The assurance she has posted is dated May 8, 2025. The cases settled on April 7, 2025, a month earlier. The emails on the record from before that date show a story in hand, a partial draft planned in February and a video out by mistake, but no promise to publish. In Reckless Ben’s August documentary the whistleblower said the story was slated for the cover and had “cleared legal”; that is her account, not a Newsweek assurance on paper. If an earlier written assurance exists, it is not among what she has shown.

Why it never ran: two accounts

The whistleblowers’ and a former ally’s.

Nishizaki’s post ends on a promise of reporting on “how and why the LA Times and Newsweek killed reporting on child sexual abuse and the money behind it,” with the hint “hollywood.” Karen Jonson, the former member of the sect and author who worked with the two from 2023 to get the story into the press, gives the other account. On Reddit on October 23 she wrote that she cut ties when she “found out they were email harassing the reporters, editors, and publisher at Newsweek,” that they “had wanted me to harass them too (I didn't),” and that they “had their students sending harassing letters too.” Two days later she blamed them for “RUINING the opportunity with Newsweek.” Nishizaki answered that Jonson’s “explanation for why the story was killed is incorrect.” In his September 2025 interview with Reckless Ben, the recording in which he describes tracking who opened his emails, Najar says he wrote to the owner of Newsweek; what he wrote is not shown.

What it changes

The September report ended on a Newsweek story that “reached scheduling and never ran.” That holds. What changes is how far it got: a companion video published in February, an editor-in-chief’s written commitment in May, a reporter’s scheduling in July. The account the whistleblower gave in August, that the story was shelved after the leaked clip, does not fit the editor’s commitment of May. And others wrote to Newsweek while the story was in hand: the company’s lawyer emailed the reporter within a day of its discovery ruling; Najar says in the interview recording that he wrote to Newsweek’s owner and tracked the email; Karen Jonson says the two harassed its staff, which Nishizaki disputes. What anyone wrote, or whether it mattered, is not shown. Why the story died is the question it was in September, and the people who could answer it are Newsweek’s editors.

Sources. Nishizaki’s Instagram post of October 22, 2026, DezOXDVGykY, slides 13 and 14: Nick Mordowanec’s emails of February 22, March 26 and July 31, 2025, Jennifer Cunningham’s email of May 8, 2025, and the picture of the Newsweek video card. Reckless Ben’s documentary of August 27, 2026, ES82FWeOnU4, at 5:01 to 6:24. The earlier emails, Bauman’s layoff post, the editor succession and Mordowanec’s bylines at the takedown report; the ruling of March 25, 2025 at the rulings report; the April 2025 settlement at the protective-order report. Nishizaki’s comments of October 25, 2026 in r/RecklessBen, threads 1xdon0q and 1xfen06.

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