Rachel Maddow showed why she is the best by asking Ronan Farrow why her own network, NBC, backed off of and didn’t publish his explosive Harvey Weinstein story.
Video:
Video: Smart of @Maddow to press @RonanFarrow about why NBC didn't greenlight/support him pushing his Weinstein investigation #TTT pic.twitter.com/JApEs07xoL
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 11, 2017
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Maddow asked Farrow why he ended up reporting the story in The New Yorker instead of NBC News.
Farrow’s answer was telling, “You would have to ask NBC and NBC executives about the details of that story. I’m not going to comment on any news organization’s story that they did or didn’t run. I will say that over many years many news organizations have circled around this story and faced a great deal of pressure in doing so, and there are now reports emerging publicly about the kinds of pressure news organizations faced in this, and that is real. In the course of this reporting, I was threatened with a lawsuit personally by Mr. Weinstein, and we’ve already seen that The Times has been publicly threatened with a suit. I don’t want to describe any suits leveled at other news organizations that I work with, but certainly, this is a considerable amount of pressure that outlets get as well.”
Maddow asked about NBC’s claim that the story wasn’t publishable and ready to go by the time Farrow brought it to them.
He answered, “I walked into The New Yorker with an explosively promotable piece that should have been public earlier, and immediately, obviously, The New Yorker recognized that, and it’s not accurate to say that it was not reportable. In fact, there were multiple determinations that it was reportable at NBC.”
Farrow’s answer makes it clear that NBC executives wouldn’t allow the story to be published. They, like many other organizations, caved to the pressure. Threatening lawsuits against victims and the media is page one of the powerful celebrity sexual assaulter’s playbook. Donald Trump threatened lawsuits over the Access Hollywood tape. Bill Cosby threatened lawsuits, and Harvey Weinstein threatened lawsuits.
What makes Maddow so trusted is that she questioned her own network to get to the truth. It would have been easy for Maddow to skate by the fact NBC News is one of the organizations that Farrow has worked with, but to bring her viewers the truth, Rachel Maddow asked a question that, honestly, doesn’t paint NBC News executives in a good light.
You will never a host of Fox News doing what Rachel Maddow did, and that is why she is the best host in cable news primetime.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
