NBC Clears Managers in Handling of Lauer

An investigation by NBCUniversal’s legal team exonerated NBC News management of any wrongdoing regarding Matt Lauer’s workplace conduct, the company said Wednesday.

The report came five months after NBC News fired Lauer, the former “Today” show star, following a complaint about inappropriate sexual behavior with a subordinate. Although the inquiry absolved network leaders, NBC also faced concerns — including from Lauer’s former “Today” show co-anchor, Ann Curry — about how thoroughly it had investigated itself.

“We found no evidence indicating that any NBC News or ‘Today’ show leadership, News H.R. or others in positions of authority in the News Division received any complaints about Lauer’s workplace behavior prior to Nov. 27, 2017,” the report said. In the wake of Lauer’s ouster, there had been questions about what executives at the network knew about their star’s behavior.

Unlike other news organizations, like Fox News and NPR, that have faced questions about workplace misbehavior, NBC News opted not to have an outside legal firm conduct its review. The investigation was overseen by Kimberley D. Harris, the general counsel of NBCUniversal.

After facing some criticism on Wednesday, a company spokeswoman clarified that two law firms, Proskauer Rose and Davis Polk & Wardwell, had been consulted.

“Proskauer Rose and Davis Polk both reviewed the report and gave their stamp of approval on the methodology and findings and recommendations for next steps,” said Hilary Smith, senior vice president of corporate communications at NBCUniversal.

Lawyers for those firms did not sit in on interviews with NBC employees or supervise the investigation, Smith said. She added that before the investigation ended, “we consulted the law firms to be sure we conducted an appropriate process. There was nothing else they recommended we do.”

More pushback came from Curry, who was quoted in The Washington Post last month saying that she had once urged two NBC managers “to keep an eye on” Lauer, after hearing that her co-host had harassed a staff member. (Curry was forced out of her co-anchor job at the “Today” show in 2012.)

On Wednesday, NBC’s legal team said that Curry had “a discussion” with the network’s investigators, and, in reference to Curry’s comments to The Post, noted that “members of NBC News and ‘Today’ show leadership at the time with whom we spoke denied having any such conversation with Curry.”

Curry took issue with that characterization. “I have not participated in any formal investigation by NBC on sexual harassment,” she wrote in a statement. Instead, according to a person briefed on the conversation, Curry received an unexpected phone call from an NBCUniversal lawyer, shortly before The Post’s article was published.

The call, which did not last long, was focused solely on what Curry had told The Post, the person said. There was no follow-up conversation with Curry, who said she stood by what she told the Post.

Smith, the spokeswoman, said that a NBCUniversal lawyer involved in the investigation reached out to Curry after the network learned of her comments to The Post.

“Ann declined to name the alleged complainant, nor would she identify the person in management to whom she says she raised a concern at the time about Lauer,” Smith said. “This is accurately noted in our report.”

NBC News — and in particular its chairman, Andrew Lack, who was close to Lauer — has faced scrutiny about whether a culture of harassment was allowed to fester at the network.

Last month, allegations surfaced that Tom Brokaw, the network’s longtime anchor, had harassed a correspondent in the 1990s. Brokaw denied the claims, but the news coverage was a reminder that the NBC investigation, promised by executives in the wake of Lauer’s firing last year, had not yet emerged. The report, sent to NBC employees on Wednesday morning, did include some caveats.

One woman, who eventually came forward about a sexual encounter with Lauer, said she told a manager in 1996 about an interaction where Lauer “placed his hand on her thigh and made a sexually suggestive comment.” The manager, who was not identified, agreed at the time to reassign the woman so that she would not travel alongside Lauer.

The report also said that, of four women who filed complaints about Lauer’s misbehavior, two believed that senior managers at NBC News and the “Today” show were aware of the anchor’s sexual misconduct. “The former leaders with whom we spoke denied any such knowledge, however, and we were unable to otherwise substantiate it,” the report said.

NBC’s investigators said they interviewed 68 individuals for the report, including current management at the news division and current and former members of the “Today” staff. The report indicated that former NBC News executives were contacted, but did not say whether interviews with those executives had taken place.

After the release of Wednesday’s report, the woman who accused Brokaw, Linda Vester, wrote an op-ed column in The Post that criticized NBC for relying on its own in-house counsel.

“I want NBC to stop fighting #MeToo within its own walls,” Vester wrote. “I ask NBCUniversal to retain an outside investigator to look into sexual harassment and any cover-up of sexual harassment at NBC News.”

An advocacy group that grew out of the #MeToo movement, Press Forward, also issued a statement describing the nature of NBC’s review as “an inherent conflict of interest.” The group, which is focused on improving workplace environments for women in the media industry, added, “No one is going to be fully candid when speaking to management for fear of losing their jobs.”

If there was criticism to be found in the report, it came in an assessment of NBC News’ human resources operation. The investigators found it “troubling” that no formal complaints had been filed about Lauer despite his engaging in sexual relationships with subordinates. The report found that network staff members were fearful of retaliation and did not feel confident that their complaints would be kept confidential, in part because human resources managers occupied glass-walled offices in full view of other NBC News employees.

Still, the report concluded NBC News did not have a hostile work environment.

Lack, in a memo to his staff on Wednesday, wrote that he was “immensely proud of NBC News, its history, and the work we do.”

“But — stepping back from the investigation — that history also includes a time when people were not comfortable coming forward to voice complaints about repugnant behavior,” Lack added. “That is not acceptable. We cannot change the past. What we can do is learn from it, and try to make it right.”

In addition to the interviews, NBC’s legal team said it searched email accounts belonging to Lauer and news division managers. Investigators also searched text messages on Lauer’s work phones, saying that no evidence could be found to corroborate that anyone in management knew of his behavior. The report added, however, that “the availability of evidence was impacted by the passage of time,” and it did not make clear how far back the searches went. Lauer, in a statement issued by a spokeswoman on Wednesday, said, “There are aspects of the NBC report with which I clearly disagree.”

One notable detail of Lauer’s case — that the anchor was able to use a button at his desk to lock the door to his NBC office — was also examined by NBC’s legal team.

“The button is a commonly available feature in executive offices in multiple NBCUniversal facilities to provide an efficient way to close the door without getting up from the desk,” the investigators found. “The button releases a magnet that holds the door open. It does not lock the door from the inside.”