NBC knew it had a problem on its hands. Former “Today” show host Ann Curry’s revelation to the Washington Post that she informed two managers years ago they should pay attention to Matt Lauer’s conduct with women looked bad for the network this spring.
Consequently, NBCUniversal addressed her claim, as a footnote, in the report summarizing its Lauer investigation released on Wednesday.
NBC said in the report that Curry had spoken to the investigative team, and that “members of NBC News and ‘Today’ show leadership at the time with whom we spoke denied having any such conversation with Curry.” Curry, by the way, has declined to name the managers she says she briefed, along with the woman who approached her with a complaint about Lauer that prompted her to tell management.
But here’s what the New York Times is reporting:
NBC is under fire for conducting an internal investigation into Lauer, rather than hiring an outside counsel. Conflicts like this are exactly why. Investigators say in the report they interviewed 68 people, current and former staff, on-air talent, management, human resources personnel, etc. But Curry’s public insistence that, for her, those communications were limited to a brief and informal phone call about another media interview is enough to make you question the rest of the report. If Curry is telling the truth, what else was exaggerated in the report, or not probed adequately by investigators? (I’ve raised additional questions here, as has my colleague Becket Adams.)
These questions intensify when you consider again that NBC’s investigation was done internally, rather then by an outside counsel. When you rely on internal investigators, and conflicts like this arise, your findings seem less credible. The company did its best to release a report that would minimize further fallout, but skepticism will continue to dog NBC.
