NBC News renewed network President Noah Oppenheim’s contract in recent months as the network faced allegations surrounding Matt Lauer and Harvey Weinstein.
Oppenheim, 40, who has been the president of NBC News since 2017 after two years running Today, had his contract renewed in recently, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
He and fellow NBC News executive Andy Lack have faced strong calls for their resignations, and the network has received requests for an independent investigation into the allegations that surfaced in its former reporter Ronan Farrow’s new book, Catch and Kill.
Farrow alleged that the network knew ex-Today host Matt Lauer was accused of raping Brooke Nevils, a former NBC News employee, and didn’t fire him until the accusations became public years later. He also claimed that the network squashed his reporting on Weinstein’s alleged sexual harassment and assaults because the Hollywood mogul allegedly threatened to reveal damaging information about Lauer.
“Farrow’s effort to defame NBC News is clearly motivated not by a pursuit of truth, but an axe to grind. It is built on a series of distortions, confused timelines, and outright inaccuracies,” Oppenheim said in a memo to NBC employees before the book was released.
Lack was also accused of pursuing female subordinates in an “unrelenting” manner.
Despite calls from former on-air personalities including Megyn Kelly, Greta Van Susteren, and Gretchen Carlson for an independent investigation into the allegations made in Farrow’s reporting, the network has decided not to open a new investigation.
