In 2017, Ronan Farrow began his investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against the now infamous Harvey Weinstein. At the time, it was just a routine assignment that I believe his network felt obliged to follow up and expected it wouldn’t go anywhere. However, Farrow isn’t that kind of journalist, the one that forms an opinion before doing the work. As he began to do his research, Farrow found more and more reason to keep digging as revelations about Weinstein fit a long term pattern of abusive behavior over decades, apparently well known inside and outside of the Hollywood community. But, the closer he came to airing the results of his groundbreaking work, the more resistance Farrow experienced from his network and those close or connected to Weinstein.
I thought I knew most of what there was to know about what happened to Ronan Farrow and his story covering the Harvey Weinstein investigation. Well before this investigation put his name in the headlines, Farrow had gotten my attention as I routinely watch NBC’s Today show and his segments were outstanding. Anytime I discovered he’d be airing a piece I made certain to watch it as the topics were relevant and the research was amazing. So, when I saw the Weinstein story show up in my The New Yorker magazine feed, I was confused. I’d just seen him on NBC two months earlier. It slowly dawned on me what had probably happened…they refused to air the story. Later when the network stated that it “wasn’t ready” when it was presented to them, I knew it for the lie it was. That’s not a biased opinion…it’s an informed one. It’s impossible for the story he filed with The New Yorker to have progressed that significantly in two months, the last time I’d seen Farrow on the network. It made me angry and for a long time, Farrow remained silent about the network’s role.
Sharing my perspective above is important for context. Yes, I had a bias and it was based on what I’d rooted out myself. However, what really happened was much, much worse than I’d concluded. It’s so bad that I’m struggling to continue watching the Today show, which falls under the leadership of those with the dirty hands in this story. However, Andrew Lack, the chairman of NBC News and MSNBC, was forced to resign two days ago and major changes in the network leadership were made, long overdue. I’ll give them a short time to implement change because now more than ever, integrity in news reporting is paramount.
I’d expected someone as powerful as Weinstein to exert his will in thwarting Farrow’s investigation and he indeed pulled out all the stops. But what was more astounding were the identity of lots of his enablers and the sinister tactics used to intimidate Farrow. I promise you’ll be let down in some instances (there’s significant coverage of Matt Lauer’s downfall, too). Farrow narrates his own story, which makes a difference as he adds the inflections and heightened emotions where he experienced them. At times, parts of the story sounds like inside baseball information but I was able to keep up as he does provide clarity. This is an important story as it gives background, raw and seemingly unfiltered, to one of the most important stories of our time. Farrow doesn’t pull any punches about himself and his motives either, which further deepens the story’s authenticity. I believe him.
Book Info
- Release Date: October 15, 2019
- Narrator: Ronan Farrow
- Audio Length: 10 hours, 43 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
Blue Mood Café 
I am so glad you enjoyed this book, Jonetta! While I thought his idea to expose the harsh heinous realities of what went on in Hollywood and at NBC was such a worthy focus, I did have some misgivings about the book. Haven’t written my review yet as I am still gathering my thoughts.
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Thanks, Marialyce! Looking forward to hearing your perspective.
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Good review, Jonetta. 🙂 If you don’t mind, can you give me a nit more background about this? I know about Weinstein and what he did. But Farrow is relatively unknown to me.
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Thanks, Debjani💜 Ronan Farrow is the reporter that wrote the story in The New Yorker that exposed Harvey Weinstein. What made his story remarkable from others is that he was able to get so many women to go on record and camera to tell their story. He was the inspiration for the Me, Too movement taking flight.
Farrow is the son of actress and activist Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, though it’s long been suspected that Frank Sinatra was his father. He’s Yale educated and has one of the most impressive backgrounds. Google him for details as I can’t do him justice.
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Ok, I will. Thanks for the info, Jonetta.
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You’re welcome!
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I just finished it two days ago. It was interesting to read both She Said (earlier this year) and Catch and Kill this week. Interesting to see the differences, but also the similarities. I had no idea that when Ronan Farrow worked at NBC they didn’t want him to publish his article, and now because of his reporting, there are still heads rolling at NBC, just saw a couple articles about it yesterday.
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The heads are only rolling now because after almost three years since Farrow released his article, NBC hasn’t been able to come from out under the scandal. Do you realize no one lost their jobs because of this until three days ago? And, to add insult to injury, Luck ran the internal investigation. Lots of disgruntled journalists at NBC.
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I did not know. I saw some headlines but never got into the thick of it until She Said, and they didn’t cover NBC. That’s why it was so interesting to see what’s going on at the moment. But yes, there is quite the time between reporting the article, releasing the book an 2020. I heard Luck swept the Matt Lauer case under the rug too. We need a new generation on the top, maybe that will bring a change.
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I agree, Corina. Time for all of them to step down.
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Amazing review, Jonetta! Really interesting to hear your personal perspective on the circumstances around even getting the story out there. This has just been handled so reprehensibly for so long by all the people who could’ve taken responsibility. I’ve heard only glowing things about this one, looking forward to picking it up!
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Thank you, Ren💜 When you read it, you’ll be outraged. In our book club discussion this morning, we all agreed that the writing felt more like a journalist writing to other journalists so be forewarned.
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So more information-heavy than creative, you mean? That’s good to know, you definitely have to be in the mood or prepared for one of those.
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Exactly!
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Wow, you have a knack for feeding my audiobook addiction, lady! We’ve heard a lot about Weinstein, but I am very curious as I didn’t know Farrow was behind the story. Fab post! xx
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Thank you, Meggy💜 Farrow is the hero. He singlehandedly fought to get this story in daylight. It changed everything and led to the toppling of at least five more titans.
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