How top NBC executives quashed the bombshell Harvey Weinstein story

[Jacque67 7,328]

In mid-August, Ronan Farrow, an NBC News contributor, had secured an interview with a woman who was willing to appear on camera, in silhouette, her identity concealed, and say Harvey Weinstein had raped her, according to four people with close knowledge of the reporting. It was a pivotal moment in a testy, months-long process of reporting a story that had bedeviled a generation of media and Hollywood reporters. 

Farrow had a lot of material already. In March, he had acquired a damning and much-coveted audio recording in which Weinstein admits to having groped an Italian model. He had interviews with former executives and assistants who’d worked closely with Weinstein who spoke about the culture of harassment and abuse he perpetrated. And now he had someone ready to accuse Weinstein of rape, on camera. 

But at that moment Farrow was also caught in the pincers of an NBC News edict. He had been told by executives at NBC News that he didn’t have enough reporting to go on air with his Weinstein story, according to four sources, and he had been told by the network to stop reporting on it. NBC tried to put a stop to the interview with the woman accusing Weinstein of rape. The network insisted he not use an NBC News crew for the interview, and neither was he to mention his NBC News affiliation. And so that was how Ronan Farrow wound up paying out of his own pocket for a camera crew to film an interview. 

As a project for NBC News, Farrow’s story was effectively dead. Later that month, he received permission to take his reporting to another news organization. The story that resulted, published Tuesday by The New Yorker, was a blockbuster: multiple women accusing Weinstein of rape and other sexual misconduct, accompanied by the audio of Weinstein admitting to sexual assault.

JACOPO RAULE VIA GETTY IMAGES

An audio of Harvey Weinstein arguing with a young model at a hotel was included with The New Yorker article.

At an NBC News town hall Wednesday, NBC News President Noah Oppenheim said: “The notion that we would try to cover for a powerful person is deeply offensive to all of us. We were on that long list of places that chased this thing, tried to nail it, but weren’t ultimately the ones who broke it.” 

Then he struck a rueful tone, suggesting that the NBC iteration of the story had died of natural causes. “We reached a point over the summer where we, as an organization, didn’t feel that we had all the elements that we needed to air,” he said.

Yet interviews with 12 people inside and outside NBC News with direct knowledge of the reporting behind Farrow’s story suggest a different cause of death. All of the sources who spoke to HuffPost asked not to be named, either because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media about the story or because they were fearful of retribution from NBC News executives. These sources detailed a months-long struggle within NBC News during which Oppenheim and other executives slow-walked Farrow’s story, crippling it with their qualms and irresolution.

Toward the end, the concerns seemed to take on a personal tone, and it became difficult to tell where the Weinstein team’s attempts to discredit the story left off and NBC News’ editorial forbearance began. According to multiple sources inside and outside of NBC News who worked on the aborted story, Oppenheim related to Farrow what Weinstein’s lawyers had said in complaint to NBC: that Farrow had a conflict of interest because Weinstein had helped revive the career of Farrow’s estranged father, director Woody Allen. Weinstein’s representatives would later use a similar line of attack when the story landed at The New Yorker. The magazine, known for its rigorous vetting process, saw no conflict of interest.

[Jacque67 7,328]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nbc-harvey-weinstein_us_59de5688e4b0eb18af059685

 

Fishy...

[eieio 1,594]

NBC should have their license revoked….or only allowed to broadcast on cable.

[Jacque67 7,328]

http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-bannon-harvey-weinstein-business-relationship-2017-10

 

Wonder what kind of home videos they distributed...

[Jacque67 7,328]

Clinton and Obama have both issued statements denouncing Weinstein's actions in the wake of The New York Times' reporting about his serial sexual assaults on women. Other leading Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have announced plans to donate his campaign contributions to charities.

Bannon was not immediately available to comment, according to a spokeswoman.

The ties to Weinstein open Bannon up to charges of hypocrisy given Breitbart's intense focus on the scandal and its political fallout. In recent days the site has featured a blog with live updates on the story; headlines calling out Obama, Clinton and top Democrats for their ties to the producer; and stories attacking other news outlets for failing to cover the scandal with the same ferocity as Breitbart.

The connection between Bannon and Weinstein began more than a decade ago when Bannon, who had been a Goldman Sachs banker, was dabbling in Hollywood investments. Transcripts of investor conference calls at the time show Bannon enthusing about the business opportunities with the Weinsteins.

"We are extremely honored to be in business with the new Weinstein Company," Bannon told investors in one such call, declaring that "the Weinsteins have the most impressive track record in the film industry" and that "Bob and Harvey are two of the most prolific studio heads in the history of Hollywood."

Ultimately, Genius Products ended up in bankruptcy in 2011, but not before Bannon reported substantial revenues from the venture. His company Bannon Strategic Advisers had a consulting agreement worth $500,000 with Genius Products in 2006, and he was awarded bonuses of more than $200,000, according to SEC filings. Bannon also was awarded stock options in 2005 that were valued at well over $1 million at the time.

Weinstein has been fired as co-chairman from The Weinstein Co. The company's board of directors has strongly denied that it knew about Weinstein's behavior, which allegedly stretched back decades.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/11/steve-bannon-profited-from-ties-to-harvey-weinstein.html

 

hmm.

bannon and oppenheim connection? 

NBC had the Access Hollywood tape and sat on it...most likely has the apprentice audios too...no wonder Donnie is attacking NBC...

Edited October 12, 2017 by Jacque67

[jayjayj 571]

Bannon had a business relationship with a company owned by the Weinstein brothers, over a decade ago?  Straws are being grasped here.  This is a scandal owned by liberal hollywood and no amount of twisting will change that fact.

[CaliCat 3,957]

9 hours ago, Jacque67 said:

http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-bannon-harvey-weinstein-business-relationship-2017-10

 

Wonder what kind of home videos they distributed...

 

I am sure they were educational videos. Steve Bannon has been eerily silent about this relationship, which isn't much surprising. 

[Jacque67 7,328]

9 minutes ago, CaliCat said:

 

I am sure they were educational videos. Steve Bannon has been eerily silent about this relationship, which isn't much surprising. 

People are saying they were very educational. Even Hannity is going into films.

[Jacque67 7,328]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ronan-farrow-says-he-was-threatened-personally-a-lawsuit-by-harvey-weinstein-1047604

 

hmm... Sounds presidential.

[smilesammich 10,727]

10 hours ago, Jacque67 said:

http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-bannon-harvey-weinstein-business-relationship-2017-10

 

Wonder what kind of home videos they distributed...

i'm sure bannon will return whatever profit he made from his and weinstein's business relationship, donate it to a nonprofit women's charity or something 

[Boiler 46,116]

[Boiler 46,116]

It is indicative of why the MSM are in such low regard, perhaps they should focus on Journalism and not Politics.

[CaliCat 3,957]

52 minutes ago, Jacque67 said:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ronan-farrow-says-he-was-threatened-personally-a-lawsuit-by-harvey-weinstein-1047604

 

hmm... Sounds presidential.

 

He's a sexual predator and a bully. Can you say Trump 2.0?

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

8 hours ago, jayjayj said:

Bannon had a business relationship with a company owned by the Weinstein brothers, over a decade ago?  Straws are being grasped here.  This is a scandal owned by liberal hollywood and no amount of twisting will change that fact.

They are still in the grief stage from the false Russian narrative being a total failure 

[Dashinka 24,798]

I heard Hillary is donating the contributions from Weinstein to a charity.  I imagine the Clinton Foundation fits the bill.