CNN writes: On this weekend’s “Reliable Sources,” Howard Kurtz [pictured] spoke with the New York Times Sharon Waxman about her recent story on aging porn stars. www.adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=20759. And it sure seemed to perk Mr. Kurtz up a bit:

WAXMAN: But it is a story. And it’s a big part of our culture. And I don’t think we spend too much time looking at pornography or observing it or analyzing it at “The New York Times”. In fact, we almost never do.

But the point is, it is part of American culture and American society, and it’s worth looking at. I think it tells us something about ourselves, and it’s interesting and it’s fun to read, as you told me.

KURTZ: It was fun to read.

Now, you went to a porn shoot as part of your prodigious research. Did you interview this woman Davela (ph), who is a porn star, who is the mother of porn star, before, during, after?

WAXMAN: Did I interview her during…

KURTZ: I’m kidding, but did you interview her before or after the sexual activity?

Read the show’s entire transcript here.

KURTZ: Sharon Waxman, welcome.

SHARON WAXMAN, “NEW YORK TIMES”: Hi. Nice to be here.

KURTZ: How did you cajole “The New York Times” into publishing this steamy story?

WAXMAN: I didn’t cajole “The New York Times”. My “New York Times” — an editor at the “New York Times” of the style section had been handed some interesting facts by another reporter on another topic doing research who happened to find that there was this huge rise and interest in older people in the porn industry, older people performing in the porn industry. It became a whole genre. And asked me to look into it, so I did. KURTZ: Now, what does it say about the changing nature of journalism that this qualifies as a “New York Times” story? It is hard for me to imagine this being a story in years past.

WAXMAN: But it is a story. And it’s a big part of our culture. And I don’t think we spend too much time looking at pornography or observing it or analyzing it at “The New York Times”. In fact, we almost never do.

But the point is, it is part of American culture and American society, and it’s worth looking at. I think it tells us something about ourselves, and it’s interesting and it’s fun to read, as you told me.

KURTZ: It was fun to read.

Now, you went to a porn shoot as part of your prodigious research. Did you interview this woman Davela (ph), who is a porn star, who is the mother of porn star, before, during, after?

WAXMAN: Did I interview her during…

KURTZ: I’m kidding, but did you interview her before or after the sexual activity?

WAXMAN: Well, before and in between and after, yes. I mean, it was — this happened to be a very, as I understand it, because it’s really the only one — only shoot I’ve been on, but it was a rather tame shoot, and it was small. So it was just the director who held the camera and it was the guy, and it was her and me and my photographer.

So it was a very — it was rather an intimate setting. But the interesting thing is that, of course, it’s like chopping onions if you’re on the Martha Stewart show or something. I mean, you know, having sex is just what they do all day, and they’re absolutely prosaic about it. And so, you sort of enter that vibe of not being shocked. And, you know, it’s strange, for sure, but you kind of try to put that mask on.

KURTZ: So you’re there as a reporter and you’re taking notes? Are you trying to act like this is just another assignment?

WAXMAN: Yes. Yes, I was trying to act — well, you know, as a reporter you get to be in all kinds of unusual situations, whether — where something might be normal, and — to the people who are involved in it — or on it might be extraordinary. Either way, you’re there with your notebook trying to take notes and trying to just absorb as much as you can, as much information as you can.

But then the trick is in this particular story to go back and translate it through a filter for our readers because, of course, we’re a newspaper that has very strict standards about the kind of language we use and the kind of things we’ll describe to our readers. And so once we had decided that it was OK for me to really go ahead and report the story — and I felt that that was an important part of the story, to actually be on the set and see what it was like and to convey that to readers. I had to put an extra layer, I guess, between myself and what I’d seen.

KURTZ: So did a lot of your article, to use a Hollywood term, end up on the cutting room floor?

WAXMAN: No, absolutely not. They were very supportive of what I — and very helpful, my editors, in trying to walk that line between — it’s a line of taste, finally, I guess, which you’re trying to convey to the reader a real sense of what’s happening, but do it in a way that’s still tasteful and that still adheres to the standards of “The New York Times,” which can be pretty tough.

KURTZ: Now, why would the people who were having sex and the people who were making this film, why would they want a reporter there?

WAXMAN: Are you kidding? They wanted the exposure.

KURTZ: So to speak.

WAXMAN: No pun intended, yes.

I mean, this woman Davela (ph) just sort of started out. She’s only been doing porn for about six or seven months. And, in fact, her husband, who also works at this company where her day job is — you know, she’s an administrative assistant at a porn company, and she works for her husband, who runs the marketing there. And, you know, he called me up and wanted to know when the story was running, and he was the one who actually suggested to me that I meet his wife.

KURTZ: So it’s like any — it’s like any — interviewing any young — not young, in this case, but aspiring actress in a G-rated movie industry. They want to get some press.

WAXMAN: They wanted — she wanted to get some press. Absolutely.

There were — there were a couple of people, by the way, who I called for the story who declined to be interviewed, like this one woman, Vicky Vet (ph), who is also part of this kind of older-skewing genre. She has a big fan base, and I — and I — we went back and forth in e-mails, and initially she said she wanted to do it and then she declined.

And I think there is some hesitation, which is understandable, as to sort of why a mainstream reporter would want to be coming in and talking to someone in the porn industry, and they’re obviously going to bring all kinds of judgments and, you know, a negative attitude towards it. And I think there was skepticism by some people I contacted for the story, but Davela (ph) was into it.

KURTZ: Right. Now, I’m sure there are skeptics out there who are saying, this is a plain old case of sex sells and it’s being dressed up as sociology.

WAXMAN: OK. I mean, that’s OK.

KURTZ: You don’t want to dispute that?

WAXMAN: I mean, that’s OK. That’s OK.

I mean, I don’t do sex stories all of the time. I’ve been — I’ve covered Hollywood for over a decade now. It’s the first time I’ve ever been on a porn set.

I’ve hardly written porn stories. I did one, you know, previously when I worked at your paper, “The Washington Post,” and that was an investigative story at the end of the day about an Internet porn guy. So I wouldn’t say that I’m exactly obsessed with the subject. Once — once every few years I think it’s OK.

KURTZ: So this is not the start of a new career for you?

WAXMAN: I don’t think so.

KURTZ: All right. We’ll leave it there.

Sharon Waxman, thanks very much for joining us.

WAXMAN: Thanks, Howie.