New York Magazine’s account of the alleged “suppression” of investigative stories at NBC News sounds familiar — and much like my own experience as told in Stonewalled. For example, at precisely the same time my producer and I suddenly began hitting a brick wall when offering investigative stories on Obamacare to the CBS News broadcasts, in October of 2013, this account in New York Magazine says the same thing was happening to investigative reporter Lisa Myers at NBC. As in my own case, the article states NBC’s investigative reporters resorted to taking their important, original stories to alternate forums such as cable or the Internet.
From New York Magazine:
“Others complained about [Brian] Williams’s unwillingness to go after hard-hitting stories. Multiple sources told me that former NBC investigative reporters Michael Isikoff and Lisa Myers battled with Williams over stories. In February 2013, Isikoff failed to interest Williams in a piece about a confidential Justice Department memo that justified killing American citizens with drones. He instead broke the story on Rachel Maddow. That October, Myers couldn’t get Williams to air a segment about how the White House knew as far back as 2010 that some people would lose their insurance policies under Obamacare. Frustrated, Myers posted the article on NBC’s website, where it immediately went viral. Williams relented and ran it the next night. “He didn’t want to put stories on the air that would be divisive,” a senior NBC journalist told me. According to a source, Myers wrote a series of scathing memos to then–NBC senior vice-president Antoine Sanfuentes documenting how Williams suppressed her stories. Myers and Isikoff eventually left the network (and both declined to comment).”
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