Friday Reality Check: NBC Touts #MeToo Sexual Abuse Campaign After Ignoring Weinstein Story

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2017/10/20/friday-reality-check-nbc-touts-metoo-sexual-abuse-campaign-after-ignoring-weinstein-story/

NBC, the network that refused to run its own journalist Ronan Farrow’s meticulously reported story documenting incidents of sexual assault committed by embattled Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein now wants you to know that they stand front-and-center on the social media #MeToo campaign, a viral movement initiated by victims of sexual assault. 

According to the network, Massachusetts’ own U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has taped a segment with NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd, which is slated to run Sunday morning.

 The announcement dropped via a Friday afternoon media email blast courtesy of NBC senior communications director Olivia Peterson. 

“In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein allegations, “Meet the Press” reached out to every female U.S. senator, asking if any had #MeToo stories they were comfortable sharing with our viewers. Senators Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) shared their stories – a powerful example of the prevalence of sexual harassment,” Peterson wrote.

Below is a screenshot teaser indicating what the Democratic Party interviewees plan on discussing:

According to the previewed transcript, Warren told Todd:

“The first women who started the ‘me, too’ campaign were incredibly brave. And they inspired the next wave. And in turn, they inspired the next wave and the next wave and the next wave. That’s how we make real change.”

What apparently failed to make real change was Farrow’s explosive report on Weinstein. 

According to Farrow, who had been working as an NBC contributor — and who skipped his own sister’s wedding in order to break his story — found himself forced to seek out another outlet after NBC balked on airing his report documenting allegations of Weinstein’s sexual abuse: 

“I walked into the door at the New Yorker with an explosively reportable piece that should have been public,” he told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow in an interview. “Immediately the New Yorker recognized that, and it was not accurate to say that it was not reportable. In fact, there were multiple determinations at NBC that it was reportable.”

When asked by Maddow why the story ran in the New Yorker rather than on NBC, Farrow replied: “You would have to ask NBC and NBC executives about the details.”

“Meet the Press” airs Sunday at 9 a.m.