Episode 2: The Producer

The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow

Pineapple Street Studios

News, Society & Culture, True Crime

4.8 • 10.4K Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2019

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Rich McHugh was a veteran TV news producer when he teamed up with Ronan Farrow, then a correspondent at NBC News, as he began reporting on Harvey Weinstein. McHugh didn’t expect that the assignment would lead to him witnessing what he believes to be a historic example of a major news outlet killing a story—when executives ordered him and Farrow to stand down. Now, McHugh tells a new part of his story, about what happened when Farrow took the investigation to the New Yorker and McHugh stayed behind to watch from the inside as NBC dealt with the fallout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, we're going to be talking a lot about sexual violence in this series.
0:06.0	There's also some language.
0:07.9	If either of those things are upsetting for you, please take care while you're listening.
0:13.0	So it was a couple days before we were going to go to LA to interview a woman with a credible
0:17.6	allegation of rape against Harvey.
0:20.8	Rich McEw is a news and documentary producer, and back in 2016 and 2017, he was my producer
0:27.6	at NBC.
0:28.9	He was alongside me while I was reporting on allegations against Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood
0:33.4	executive.
0:34.4	And we were about to book our flights.
0:36.8	I think you might have already booked your flight or might have even been in root.
0:40.8	And the decision was handed down to me by Rich Greenberg.
0:45.6	Rich Greenberg runs the investigative unit at NBC News.
0:49.0	He was our boss and just below the president of NBC News, Noah Oppenheim.
0:53.3	I'll never forget it.
0:54.3	He said, Noah was very, very clear.
0:57.1	You were to stand down.
0:59.6	You know, done.
1:00.6	We're done here.
1:02.2	I don't think I've ever been more angry in my life than I went back to my desk and I wrote
1:06.5	you in my self an email about what was all said to me in that meeting.
1:12.3	In that moment, I realized a couple things.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Pineapple Street Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Pineapple Street Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.