Year in review: CNN, MSNBC hot takes and lowlights
A compilation of on-air moments from CNN and MSNBC that generated controversy and conversation among viewers.
NBC News president Noah Oppenheim is no longer in charge of the Comcast-owned news division, NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde announced on Wednesday.
Oppenheim, who moonlighted as a Hollywood screenwriter during his time at NBC and wrote the acclaimed "Jackie," will remain with Comcast and has signed a film and production deal with NBCUniversal.
New York Times deputy managing editor Rebecca Blumenstein has joined NBC News and will inherit much of Oppenheim’s responsibilities with the title of president of editorial, the network announced. NBC is calling the move part of a company-wide reorganization that will also see "Today" executive vice president Libby Leist and NBC News Now executive vice president Janelle Rodriguez take on larger roles.
NBC News president Noah Oppenheim is no longer in charge of the Comcast-owned news division, NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde announced on Wednesday. (Leigh Vogel/Getty Images)
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The long-embattled Oppenheim received an onslaught of negative attention surrounding Ronan Farrow’s 2019 book "Catch and Kill," which painted him as a key figure in NBC News’ decision not to run his expose on Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Oppenheim famously told Farrow that his Weinstein reporting wasn’t fit to print, so Farrow took it to The New Yorker where it won the Pulitzer Prize and helped launch the #MeToo movement. Oppenheim was under a microscope when Farrow’s book detailed his version of why NBC refused to expose Weinstein – which included allegations that the disgraced movie mogul leveraged the knowledge of former NBC News anchor Matt Lauer’s own misconduct.
The book also suggested Oppenheim wasn’t truthful regarding knowledge of Lauer’s alleged misconduct. Farrow described Oppenheim as a "doe-eyed stoner whose mellow seemed impossible to harsh" and said they "laughed about his stories of getting high." Farrow also claimed he and Oppenheim "planned to spend a night in with some edibles" before their eventual fallout over the Weinstein reporting.
Oppenheim long maintained that Farrow simply had "an axe to grind" against NBC.
Noah Oppenheim received an onslaught of negative attention surrounding Ronan Farrow’s "Catch and Kill," which painted him as a key figure in NBC News’ decision not to run his expose on Harvey Weinstein.
After the Weinstein and Lauer bombshells were reported in 2017, NBC refused to hire an outside investigator to determine who knew about Lauer’s sexual misconduct and whether NBC executives looked the other way. NBC relied on in-house general counsel Kim Harris despite widespread calls for an outside law firm to conduct the review.
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NBC eventually declared that management was completely oblivious to Lauer’s behavior and Harris’ high-powered colleagues, including Oppenheim, were cleared by the network.
Oppenheim was at the center of another controversy in 2016 when the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape of Donald Trump was leaked from within NBC to the Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold -- an old college buddy of Oppenheim.
Noah Oppenheim, who moonlit as a Hollywood screenwriter during his time at NBC and wrote the acclaimed "Jackie," will remain with Comcast and has signed a film and production deal with NBCUniversal. (Reuters)
Fahrenthold, like Farrow, won a Pulitzer Prize for stories that NBC News passed on under Oppenheim. Fahrenthold was later given a paid consultancy with MSNBC.
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Oppenheim and Fahrenthold attended Harvard University together, but NBC has long denied that Oppenheim leaked the scandalous tape to Fahrenthold.
Oppenheim was named president of NBC News in 2017 after a two-year stint as executive producer of "Today." In addition to "Jackie," he also co-wrote "The Maze Runner."
NBC News staffers have long suspected that Oppenheim was eager to ditch the news industry and get back into filmmaking.
"We are grateful for Noah’s leadership during such an important time, both for us and our profession, and look forward to continuing to work with him in his new role," Conde said in a statement.
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