NBC News is preparing for the worst as investigative reporter Ronan Farrow is set to release a book with new allegations of sexual misconduct against former NBC host Matt Lauer.
Insider sources told Page Six on Monday that executives at NBC have been trying to draw up a plan to handle the potential fallout from the book.
Farrow’s book, Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, is being released on Oct. 15 and claims to expose “serial abusers and a cabal of powerful interests hell-bent on covering up the truth.” The network is expecting new damning information about Lauer’s alleged sexual abuse to come out.
“They’re bracing for bombshells,” one of the sources said. The book is expected to include details from several new victims with allegations against Lauer, along with the former host’s original accuser publicly identifying herself.
“I want to make it perfectly clear that any allegations or reports of coercive, aggressive or abusive actions on my part, at any time, are absolutely false,” Lauer has said about accusations against him.
Farrow won the Pulitzer Prize for his work in the New Yorker, which helped expose decades of alleged serial sexual abuse by former film executive Harvey Weinstein. He also wrote pieces that led to the resignation of CBS CEO Les Moonves and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
The 31-year-old journalist said he had originally shopped his Weinstein piece to NBC before being denied and opting to run it in the New Yorker instead. Rich McHugh, an NBC producer, later accused the network of “a massive breach of journalistic integrity” over its attempts from the “highest levels” to shutdown reporting on Weinstein.
Farrow’s latest work is “a highly anticipated release in other newsrooms,” according to an industry insider. “Ronan usually does quite a bit of press for his reporting, so you have to imagine the book will dominate the news cycle for several days,” the insider added.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to NBC for comment on the story.
