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NBC News Chief Responds to Accusations He Killed Weinstein Story

The Daily Beast reported on Wednesday that NBC sources disputed Oppenheim’s claims about why the network passed.

NBC News President Noah Oppenheim responded Wednesday to reports that he quashed a major Harvey Weinstein investigation and let it slip away to The New Yorker. “I wanted to come up here and proactively address some of the noise that has been circulating regarding Ronan Farrow’s great Harvey Weinstein scoop,” Oppenheim told staffers at a town hall meeting, according to an NBC News transcript. “Because it would pain all of us… if anyone at this organization thought there was anything to be ashamed of in that decision-making process… The notion that we would try to cover for a powerful person is deeply offensive to all of us.” Oppenheim, a successful Hollywood screenwriter (Jackie and The Maze Runner, among others), argued that Farrow was given resources and encouraged to pursue leads, but “we didn’t feel we had all the elements we needed to air it.” Farrow had pointedly disagreed on Tuesday, telling MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow: “It is not accurate to say that it was not reportable. In fact, there were multiple determinations that it was reportable at NBC.”

–Lloyd Grove