NBC’s “Today” show covered the latest developments regarding its former host Matt Lauer on Wednesday after the ex-Peacock Network star put himself back in the news by bashing another former NBC employee, journalist Ronan Farrow.
Lauer wrote a scathing indictment of Farrow’s reporting on Tuesday, alleging that the Pulitzer-winning reporter engaged in “shocking” displays of journalistic negligence in his book “Catch and Kill,” which largely focused on a variety of issues inside NBC News.
Lauer, who was fired from NBC amid sexual misconduct allegations in November 2017 at the height of the #MeToo movement, argued that Farrow failed to confirm stories from his main sources, failed to provide evidence of communication between Lauer and his accusers, and used misleading language “to manipulate readers into believing things that could easily be false, or were at least unprovable.”
Farrow defended himself on Twitter, writing: “All I’ll say on this is that Matt Lauer is just wrong. Catch and Kill was thoroughly reported and fact-checked, including with Matt Lauer himself.”
NBC News reporter Stephanie Gosk was tasked with covering the latest developments on Lauer’s former program.
“’Catch and Kill’ accuses NBC News and NBC Universal of ignoring sexual harassment allegations against prominent men in the company including Lauer, for years, and of deliberately burying Farrow’s own story on Harvey Weinstein to protect Lauer. NBCUniversal has repeatedly denied both allegations,” Gosk reported.
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Gosk then reported that Brooke Nevils, who accused Lauer of raping her in a hotel room during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, responded to Lauer’s essay on Twitter.
“DARVO: Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender,” Nevils tweeted shortly after Mediaite published Lauer’s piece.
As Gosk noted, Lauer has denied raping Nevils and attacked Farrow’s coverage of the claims.
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“Lauer says he wanted to publish his article last fall, after the book’s release, but held it for personal reasons,” Gosk reported, noting that a recent column by The New York Times’ Ben Smith was the impetus for Lauer’s decision to publish the article.
Gosk then read a comment from Farrow’s publisher, Little, Brown and Company, in which the company defended the book that paints NBC News in an extremely negative light.
“NBC News has offered no comment on the Lauer piece,” Gosk said on NBC News’ flagship program.
Outgoing NBC News chairman Andy Lack has long claimed that Farrow’s reporting on now-disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein wasn’t fit for air, but the son of actors Mia Farrow and Woody Allen took his work to the prestigious New Yorker and ultimately won the Pulitzer Prize and helped launch the #MeToo movement.
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Lauer was fired shortly afterward for his own sexual misconduct. Farrow detailed his side of the story about why NBC spiked his Weinstein expose in “Catch and Kill,” which was a nightmare for NBCUniversal. The book specified claims that Lack, and his top deputy Noah Oppenheim, refused to expose Weinstein and weren’t truthful regarding knowledge of Lauer’s alleged misconduct.
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NBC announced earlier this month that Lack would soon exit the company and shortly thereafter it was reported that the New York attorney general’s office is looking into NBC News over reported claims of sexual harassment at the company.
The office of the New York attorney general has declined comment.
Linda Vester, a onetime NBC correspondent and former Fox News anchor, told Fox News that she was interviewed by the New York attorney general’s office about NBC on January 7.
Fox News’ Sam Dorman contributed to this report.
