And, for the record, the list of accusers is now up to 3.
NBC News has allegedly threatened to sue the Washington Post for originally reporting on the accusations against Brokaw. And it's been accused of pressuring female staffers into signing a pro-Brokaw letter.
One NBC News staffer said, “We felt forced to sign the letter supporting Brokaw. We had no choice, particularly the lower level staffers. The letter was being handed around the office and the unspoken threat was that if your name was not on it, there would be some repercussion down the road. Execs are watching to see who signed and who didn’t. This was all about coming out in force to protect NBC’s golden boy; the network’s reputation is tied to Brokaw . . . If more women come forward, that’s a big problem.”
NBC had initially denied everything.
An NBC News rep said, “The letter is a purely grass-roots effort, led by women outside of the company who are motivated by their own support for Tom Brokaw . . . Management has played absolutely no role whatsoever.”
Except the letter was led by Goldman exec Liz Bowyer — who also happens to be a producer for Brokaw’s NBC doc unit and has worked on two of his books.
And, the latest report suggests that NBC was pressuring its people to report on the letter. That makes the grass roots effort... astroturf.
On Monday, NBC News staffers received a memo with guidance from the network’s standards and practices on how to handle reporting a sensitive story about sexual harassment allegations against Tom Brokaw.
The note, which Variety has obtained, stated: “As always in cases where sexual misconduct is alleged, we should be scrupulous in reflecting all sides.”
The network went on to enumerate, in great detail, exactly how on-air reporters should frame Brokaw’s side of the story. “Include relevant portions of Brokaw’s denial, his email and the email in support of him, signed by more than 60 colleagues,” read the instructions, which appeared in a company-wide system that producers and talent can access.
I'm sure NBC was just as scrupulous in reporting on the allegations against Charlie Rose. Or Trump.
On Monday’s edition of “Today,” an exchange between Megyn Kelly and Kate Snow showed how NBC’s guidelines shaped the network’s coverage of the Brokaw story.
“One last thing,” said Snow, a NBC News national correspondent. “I’m sitting here because I was asked to report on my own company Thursday night, which is incredibly difficult. It’s very hard. But separately, there are a lot of people in this building who really support Tom Brokaw, and I have reported that they have signed a petition …. signed by now almost 100 woman, former and current colleagues of Tom, supporting him and saying he’s always been decent to them. I just wanted to make sure that gets out in our story.”
That prompted Kelly to go rogue on live TV. “The truth is, you don’t know what you don’t know,” she said.
Whatever you think of the allegations, this is a neat little window into how the media manufactures the news.