in this context makes it feel i can feel the music behind us. there s a scene of portent where you do the brave thing after the story broke. people speaking to power about their bosses is how we have an honest conversation about this. let me ask you what it s like in this building, confronting your reporting and knowing as much as i do from being in here trying to figure it out, verify some of this stuff u i feel like in a lot of different institutions one that keeps coming to me is u.s. attorneys offices but a lot of institutions and news organizations and legal institutions, different places, there are moments when improper external pressure will be brought to bear and it s up to integrity of the outfit that that external pressure not be a shock to the system that it blows up the product of that entity, but rather it s expected.
the president of nbc news on six occasions ordering us to stop reporting. the head of the investigative unit underneath him, ordering eight times to stop reporting. that eventually escalated to ordering us to cancel interviews. and look, you can judge for yourself, it s laid out in the book, whether what we had was enough. we had a tape of weinstein admitting to sexual assault. we had multiple named women in every version of this story. but that actually is not the point. the order to stop was unjournalistic, and this is not just my account. it s my working-level producer s account. he recently wrote a piece for vanity fair saying, i witnessed all of this, it was an inappropriate shutdown of explosive reporting we had, and we were concerned that people were going to continue to get hurt. what the book lays out is that this was a set of executives making these decisions, all the way up to our parent company, who were cornered on some very difficult issues within the company. and if, i
issue, the weinstein story having to leave the building in order to get told, and combine that with another previous gigantic story on a related subject, the access hollywood tape billy bush story also having to leave this building in order to get told, and the amount of consternation this has caused among the rank and file people who work here would be almost impossible for me to overstate. i ve been through a lot of ups and downs in this company since i ve been here. it would be impossible for me to overstate the amount of consternation inside the building around this issue. since ronan farrow s book was published, i have been trying to get answers about some of his key allegations. as to whether or not ronan farrow was told to hit pause on any new reporting at a time when nbc didn t think there was enough to go to air with, we have independently confirmed that nbc news did that, that that did happen, he was told to pause his reporting. in light of farrow s assertions that there wa
him, even after they knew he was a convicted sex offender. ronan farrow s reporting has changed how we understand sexual predation by very powerful men in this country and how we understand the vast resources they can bring, even on powerful institutions, to shield themselves from accountability. and that s worth talking about anywhere, anytime, and ronan farrow joins us here next. , anyn farrow joins us here next. we present limu emu & doug with this key to the city. [ applause ] it s an honor to tell you that liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. and now we need to get back to work. [ applause and band playing ] only pay for what you need. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.
they cannot disclose their experience with sexual harassment as a result of a confidentiality or nondisparagement provision in their separation agreement should contact nbcuniversal, and we will release them from that perceived obligation. so, that s new. that s news. as to whether or not any external review will be done of the handling of the weinstein story and why that story couldn t be broken here but it later broke with another news organization, whether the company would submit itself to an external journalistic review to try to restore some confidence that the company isn t just, you know, further investigating itself and clearly itself on issues like this, well, again, we did get a statement on this, this time from nbc news. shortform, i ll tell you their answer is, no, that s not going to happen. over a year ago, nbc news released a 12-page, transparent accounting of the weinstein reporting. that s another internal investigation. they told us tonight, once again, we stand