NBC News Thrown Back Into Turmoil as Farrow Book Slams Culture

(Bloomberg) -- A new book by journalist Ronan Farrow is bringing renewed attention to how NBC handled harassment claims against former “Today” show host Matt Lauer and Farrow’s own reporting about disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.

In the book, “Catch and Kill,” Farrow writes that former NBC employee Brooke Nevils claims Lauer raped her in 2014 and she left the company with a seven-figure settlement. Farrow also finds seven allegations of workplace misconduct by Lauer before he was fired. Last year, NBC News said an internal investigation found no evidence its leadership got complaints about sexual misconduct involving Lauer until a female employee reported him to human resources in 2017. He was fired shortly after.

Lauer responded to Farrow’s book in a lengthy letter in which he said he had a consensual extramarital affair with Nevils but denied the rape allegation, calling it “categorically false.”

In a note Wednesday to staff, NBC News Chairman Andy Lack called Lauer’s conduct “appalling and reprehensible” and said NBC fired him within 24 hours of learning about the allegation.

“Any suggestion that we knew prior to that evening or tried to cover up any aspect of Lauer’s conduct is absolutely false and offensive,” Lack said. He said that NBC reached agreements with two women who came forward after Lauer was fired. (Lack previously ran Bloomberg’s media division, part of Bloomberg LP.)

In his book, Farrow also alleges that NBC stymied his reporting on Weinstein, who was ousted from his company after numerous allegations of sexual assault. Weinstein had frequent interactions with NBC executives before the network chose not to publish his reporting, according to the book, whose allegations were reported by the Hollywood Reporter.

Didn’t Meet Standard

Lack said the story didn’t run because Farrow didn’t have a witness or victim speaking on the record. The journalist “simply didn’t have a story that met our standard for broadcast nor that of any major news organizations,” Lack said.

Farrow took his reporting on Weinstein to the New Yorker, which published it in October 2017. His coverage shared a Pulitzer Prize for “impactful journalism that exposed powerful and wealthy sexual predators.”

The #MeToo era has put network news organizations under closer scrutiny. CBS Corp. shook up its news department after Chief Executive Officer Les Moonves was ousted for sexual misconduct. Susan Zirinsky took charge of CBS News earlier this year, becoming the first woman in the position.

Jeff Fager, a “60 Minutes” executive producer who previously ran the news department, was fired in September 2018 for violating company policies. In 2017, CBS terminated longtime TV personality Charlie Rose over allegations of harassment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gerry Smith in New York at gsmith233@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, John J. Edwards III

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