NBC killing Ronan Farrow's Weinstein exposé is a major embarrassment: Howard Kurtz
NBC News is being questioned for reportedly killing an exposé Ronan Farrow had on Harvey Weinstein’s long history of alleged sexual misconduct.
Farrow, a NBC special correspondent and author of the New Yorker’s explosive report on Weinstein, told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Tuesday why the network didn’t go with the story.
“You would have to ask NBC and NBC executives about the details of that story. I am not going to comment on any news organization’s story that they, you know, did or didn’t run,†he said.
Farrow told Maddow that many news organizations have faced a great deal of pressure over covering the movie mogul’s alleged sexual harassment.
“MediaBuzz†host Howard Kurtz weighed in on the controversy, telling the FOX Business Network’s Start Varney, “This is a major embarrassment for NBC.â€
“I can’t help but observe Stuart that there were a lot of inter-business relationships between NBC’s Universal Pictures, between NBC’s Bravo and Harvey Weinstein’s companies,†he added.
Weinstein is a major donor to the Democratic Party and often held fundraisers for both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
“You have to wonder, if this had been a conservative, a big Republican fund raiser, whether NBC would have had that hesitation,†Kurtz said on “Varney & Co.â€
An NBC source contradicted Farrow’s claims in a statement to The Daily Beast, saying, “at that time he didn’t have one accuser willing to go on the record or identify themselves.â€
Kurtz said it is very difficult to understand NBC’s editorial decision as the network could have aired Farrow’s chilling audio tape of Weinstein coercing model Ambra Gutierrez into watching him shower.
NBC News and MSNBC are properties of NBC Universal’s parent company Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA).