Farrow says Maddow would have to ask NBC why they passed on Weinstein story

Ronan Farrow told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Tuesday night that she would need to “ask NBC and NBC executives” why the network passed on a bombshell report he had been working on about allegations of sexual harassment and assault against film producer Harvey Weinstein. 

Farrow told Maddow that he took his story on Weinstein, which includes audio of the former media mogul confessing to groping an Italian model, to MSNBC before bringing it to The New Yorker magazine. 

Maddow informed Farrow that NBC News had maintained that the story he was working on at the time was not deemed “publishable.”

{mosads}“I walked into the door at The New Yorker with an explosive reportable piece that should have been public earlier,” Farrow replied. “And immediately, obviously, The New Yorker recognized that, and it is not accurate to say that it was not reportable,” Farrow replied. 

“In fact, there were multiple determinations that it was reportable at NBC.”

He said Maddow would “have to ask NBC and NBC executives” why they turned the story down, which led him to bring it to The New Yorker.

But he suggested the threats of lawsuits may have played a role.

Farrow said Weinstein threatened to sue him while he was working on the story. Weinstein has publicly threatened to sue The New York Times, which published a story last week that included multiple claims of sexual harassment and assault from women toward the film executive.

“I will say that over many years, many news organizations have circled this story and faced a great deal of pressure in doing so,” Farrow told Maddow.

“And there are now reports emerging publicly about the kinds of pressure that news organizations face in this. And that is real.”

Farrow hosted an afternoon show on MSNBC for a year that ended in 2015 but stayed on at the network under a nonexclusive deal that allows him to perform work for other outlets.

Since the accusations against Weinstein have been made public, some have criticized the media for not reporting on the behavior earlier. Weinstein’s actions toward women have been portrayed as an open secret.

Some reporters have also spoken about the difficulty in getting people to talk about their experiences with Weinstein for fear of retaliation from the producer.

NBC News was criticized one year ago for allowing The Washington Post to scoop the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape that contained audio of Donald Trump in 2004 bragging about groping women without consent in graphic detail. It was never determined how the Post got the explosive tape from the show, which is produced by NBC.