Two very important books have been published recently, both on the topic of sexual assault at the nexus of power. The first is by Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative journalist Ronan Farrow titled Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators. The other is She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. Both are critical reads to gain an understanding of the #metoo movement and how media organizations have helped protect powerful serial sexual assaulters.
In my view, Ronan is a national treasure. He is a terrific investigative reporter and writer, and absolutely fearless. It is also a personal story. In this time of constant verbal attacks on reporters, he faced actual danger during his investigation.
He appeared on the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC and laid out the accusations against NBC executives. That took guts on his part and on Maddow’s. The book makes a strong case that those executives went out of their way to protect serial assaulter Matt Lauer. This did not sit well with NBC News President Noah Oppenheim. He wrote a self-serving memo calling the book an attempt to defame NBC. He denied both that the network improperly killed the story on Weinstein (the book makes it very clear that they did) and that they did not cover-up for Matt Lauer (it seems pretty clear that they did). The book sent shockwaves throughout NBC, and if there is any justice, Oppenheim will need to find a new job.
And no, I am not defaming NBC by saying that, but I am being critical of Oppenheim. He uses the sad excuse used over and over by the guilty when accused by a former employee of abuses- that they are just an ex-employee with an axe to grind. If Roman has an axe to grind, it is over lying executives who cover-up for men who rape women. I guess I have an axe to grind with Oppenheim and I never even worked for him.
Most chilling is that NBC signed him up for a new contract right in the middle of this scandal when they knew Oppenheim was a problem. There is specualtion that Oppenheim will succeed equally problematic Andy Lack as network chairman after the 2020 presidential election. The book reveals that Lack preyed on female underlings and pursued sexual relationships with them. A number of women went on the record with those accusations. Witnesses side with Farrow’s view of the Weinstein coverup.
They also killed a story by MSNBC host Joy Reid on sexual assault by music mogul Russell Simmons, and infamously withheld the Access Hollywood tape to protect Donald Trump. Oppenheim and Lack should both be fired yesterday.
It seems like NBC wants to take the mantle away from CBS and Fox for the rapiest network. That is a tall order. Fox News was essentially a rape factory under Roger Ailes. It will be hard to beat them, but CBS tried. Former chairman and CEO Les Moonves was accused of sexual harassment by six different women, and that is just the ones brave enough to come forward. He even went after powerful stars and ruined their careers if they did not do what he wanted. Turns out he was a bit of a monster. He should be in prison. Ronan broke this story as well.
It seems that when there are problems at the top, it infects the entire organization. They also had to fire their morning show host Charlie Rose and the executive producer of 60 Minutes Jeff Fager for similarly bad behavior. Earlier they had to fire the founder of 60 Minutes, Don Hewitt. They have been paying his victim $75,000 a year for her silence, with a total of $5 million so far. They were known as the Tiffany Network, and Tiffany had better put out if she wants to keep her job. But things are better now, right? Not so much.
In December, they had to pay actress Eliza Dushku (from Buffy and Angel and the highly underated Dollhouse) nearly $10 million dollars to settle her sexual harassment claims against Bull actor Michael Weatherly. They tried and failed to keep the settlement silent. She was written off the series after complaining about his behavior such as telling her how much he wanted to have a threesome with her, asking her to join him in his rape van, and wanting to take her over his knee and spank her. His behavior was on going and started early. This is just the stuff caught on camera. Another crew member told Dushku he wanted to have a threesome with her as well. It was a ridiculously hostile workplace for her, and Weatherly continues to deny the extent of it despite much of it being recorded on camera. He claims that she just lacked a sense of humor and was overly sensitive. Shockingly, he still has his job at CBS, with the recent premiere of the fourth season, and CBS is once again out of a lot of money in their continuing battle to protect serial sexual harassers.
Then there is the new Patricia Heaton series, Carol’s Second Act. A writer on the show made a formal complaint against the show’s producer, David Hunt, who also happens to be the husband of Heaton. She told HR that she wanted him to go to sexual harassment training rather than anything punitive. That was a smart move as firing the star’s husband would probably never happen. Instead, they began penalizing her and she quit. Another female writer on the show who also spoke up about Hunt’s behavior was stripped of her responsibilities and left the show. Despite CBS putting in place new procedures, they seem to have done very little to make things better. CBS, as always, is standing up for the more powerful man.
NBC employees are up in arms and horrified that Oppenheim and Lack are still in charge. It has inspired them to begin work on unionizing to get better sexual harassment protections. They were also infuriated by all the non-disclosure agreements they forced employees to sign, and then claiming that women would be free to talk if they just contacted NBC first. We’ll see how that goes. That was three weeks ago and a quick Google search failed to turn up any mention of women actually being released.
It is a great but very sad read. Yes, there is stuff on Trump. There is a lot of focus on the jaw dropping behavior of NBC, and the even worse squirm in your chair get sick to your stomach behavior of Harvey Weinstein, both in his sexual assaults and in his over the top use of former Isreali Massad officers to go after the women and those investigating him, including Farrow. It is fulled with stunning betrayals and unbelievably terrible behavior. Harvey’s first accused rape was when he was 26, and he spent 40 years terrorizing women, even after he needed caverject to get it up. How he got away with it and the culture of silence that made it possible is an important part of the book.
Why did NBC protect Weinstein? It seems that Weinstein threatened that he would out Matt Lauer’s awful behavior, and they were very intent on protecting Lauer at NBC, despite their claims that they knew nothing about his extremely bad behavior. If it is true that they knew what a problem Lauer was, and it certainly seems to be based on Ronan’s account in the book, that is sickening. Lauer has been accused of anal rape and instances of using his position to force women to have sex with him, as well as having a known reputation for hurting the careers of women who said no to him. NBC still refuses to launch an independent investigation over the many sexual harassment problems they have. Perhaps that is because, as is so often the case, the problems start at the top.
Even ABC has not remained unscathed. ABC News’ Amy Robach is now talking after footage surfaced showing her on a hot mic stating that the network killed her reporting on convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Every single network’s news division now has a black eye for covering up for powerful sexual predators.
Unlike Ronan at NBC, New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey got a lot more support from their employer. Their book She Said, based on their New York Times reporting, focuses on their investigative reporting that broke the Weinstein story.
The first part of the book takes you behind the scenes of what has to happen to investigate a story like this. It is a journalistic thriller in the mold of All the President’s Men. Like Ronan, the two had to deal with Weinstein’s Black Cube Massad agents. There are stories of brave women who risked everything by speaking out, and the less than brave, such as Gwynneth Paltrow who refused to come forward publicly because she feared it might hurt her Goop brand. Regular readers of Sex in Review will know that she is a dangerous promoter of sexual pseudoscience and a huckster, we relish any opportunity to remind our readers of this.
Their meticulous journalism exposes the many people required to help Weinstein get away with this for so long, including the mind boggling revelations about attorney Lisa Bloom, daughter of attorney Glora Allred. Bloom was a longtime advocate for victims’ rights, who sold her soul for $895 an hour and the promise of a movie deal. She offered to use her knowledge of victims to help Weinstein. Out of many truly terrible characters in this story, she stands out.
The sexual abuse of women by powerful men has gone on way too long. Like since forever. If you want to understand just how awful it was and the people who protected these serial sexual assaulters, these two books will provide an eye opening perspective. It is not a fun read with either of them, but it is a very important read.