NBC News President Noah Oppenheim slammed journalist Ronan Farrow for his upcoming book Catch and Kill, which included new allegations that NBC executives tried to kill stories on Harvey Weinstein and downplay a rape accusation against Today host Matt 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 published Monday.
Farrow, 31, responded to Oppenheim on CBS This Morning, saying his work was “an extraordinarily, meticulously, fact-checked work of investigative journalism.”
“I’ll let the reporting in the book stand on its own. We’re very confident in it,” he added.
Farrow along with Rick McHugh, a former NBC producer, accused NBC of attempting to spike stories on media mogul Harvey Weinstein, including at the behest of Weinstein himself.
Catch and Kill also included a new rape allegation against Lauer, who was fired from NBC for sexual misconduct. Brooke Nevils claimed that Lauer raped her in a hotel room during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Nevils said she was later bullied by colleagues who sided with Lauer and was later paid “seven figures” to go on leave.
“I feel absolutely terrible that these three employees were subjected to Matt Lauer’s horrific behavior, but the facts do not support Farrow’s allegation of a ‘cover-up,’ and he offers no further evidence,” Oppenheim claimed.
[Related: Matt Lauer denies rape allegation and says sex with NBC colleague was ‘consensual’]
