NBC’s Lauer Investigation Conflicts With Ann Curry’s Statements

By Chris Ariens 

Late last month, in a story about NBC’s apparent shrugs at reported workplace sexual harassment, the Washington Post spoke with former Today show co-anchor Ann Curry who said she talked to two members of NBC’s management team in 2012 after a female staffer told her she was “sexually harassed physically” by Matt Lauer.

“A woman approached me and asked me tearfully if I could help her,” Curry told the Post. “She was afraid of losing her job. I believed her.”

“I told management they had a problem and they needed to keep an eye on him and how he deals with women,” Curry added.

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But in its internal investigation into Lauer, the network “found no evidence indicating that any NBC News or Today Show leadership, News HR or others in positions of authority in the News Division received any complaints about Lauer’s workplace behavior prior to November 27, 2017.”

NBC, and the two outside law firms who consulted in the investigation, interviewed 68 people. It would appear Curry was not one of them, nor were the managers she says she talked to. Or someone is lying.

In its report, NBC said “Current and former members of the Today Show staff were also interviewed, including producers at all seniority levels, on-air talent (both anchors and certain correspondents and contributors), and employees in the booking and production groups that support that program. Former members of NBC News leadership and former News HR leaders were also contacted for information.”

In the Post story, Curry declined to name the NBC managers she talked to. NBC News said it had no record of the warning. Curry was pushed out of the Today show in June, 2012. She left the network in 2015.

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