NBC News Playing Defense

Andy Lack

NBC News Chairman Andy Lack has issued a strongly worded defense of his network’s decision not to air journalist Ronan Farrow’s investigation of alleged sexual harassment, assault and rape by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, according to The L-A Times.

“For the past nine months, it has been our belief that the ‘story’ here is about Harvey Weinstein’s horrendous behavior and about the suffering and bravery of his victims, rather than a back-and-forth between a reporter and his producer and a news network,” Lack said in a memo sent to staffers Monday, which was obtained by the Los Angeles Times. “However, we’ve watched with disappointment as unfounded intimations and accusations have traveled through media circles.”

Harvey Weinstein

NBC News has been adamant in stating why it did not air Farrow’s investigation, saying he did not have a single Weinstein accuser speaking on the record or on camera, with the exception of actress Rose McGowan, who withdrew her cooperation through her lawyer. McGowan had never mentioned Weinstein by name in her February 2017 interview with Farrow, who was working under a freelance contract for NBC News at the time.

The memo is Lack’s first public comment on the network’s handling of the story, which Farrow published in the New Yorker in October and which earned him a Pulitzer Prize. The news division’s decision to not air Farrow’s work on TV and to allow him to take it elsewhere has become a source of embarrassment for the network, which over the last year had to deal with its own sexual harassment scandal involving fired “Today” co-anchor Matt Lauer. Farrow’s former producer has also accused NBC of trying to kill the story.

Ronan Farrow

The NY Post new attention to the matter was sparked last week by a statement from Rich McHugh, a former NBC News investigative reporter with whom Farrow worked to break the Weinstein story. McHugh in a statement alleged NBC News killed their efforts. “Is there anyone in the journalistic community who actually believes NBC didn’t breach its journalistic duty to continue reporting this story? Something else must have been going on,” McHugh said.

According to Lack, NBC News “convened an independent group of the most experienced investigative journalists in our organization to review his material with fresh eyes” after Farrow objected to NBC’s decision not to move forward with the story in its form at the time, “We asked them – tell us what, if anything, we can broadcast. But their conclusion was unequivocal – this story is not ready for air.”

Farrow responded to the memo with a tweet Monday night, calling it “false and misleading” for omitting women who were identified in the NBC version of his story. “The story was twice cleared and deemed ‘reportable’ by legal and standards only to be blocked by executives who refused to allow us to seek comment from Harvey Weinstein,” he wrote, adding that he “loved” his time at the network and praised its journalists, “many of whom have reached out to me in frustration.”