NBC's internal investigation following Matt Lauer's firing says it doesn't believe there is a culture of sexual harassment at the news division and that current news executives weren't aware of the former "Today" show anchor's behavior until the complaint that doomed him.
FILE - In this April 21, 2016, file photo, Matt Lauer, co-host of the NBC "Today" television program, appears on set in Rockefeller Plaza, in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
Investigators also said more needs to be done to ensure that the more than 2,000 employees at NBC News can talk about bad behavior without fearing retaliation, leading NBC News Chairman Andy Lack to establish a way this can be done outside the company.
Despite releasing the report publicly, NBC was criticized for not allowing outsiders to look at its practices. Some suggested it damages the report's credibility.
"No one is going to be fully candid when speaking to management for fear of losing their jobs," said Eleanor McManus, a co-founder of Press Forward, an organization of women who worked in the news industry and experienced sexual misconduct.
"News organizations, journalists and media all hold corporations, governments and individuals to higher standards in similar instances, so it's concerning that NBC would not choose to follow those same standards itself."
The review by lawyers means "that care was taken at every step — to avoid liability," said Jennifer Drobac, an Indiana University professor and expert in employment law. "If this investigation also promotes a safer work environment, then that is an added benefit for all."
NBC Universal's general counsel, Kimberley Harris, conducted the investigation. Harris' report was primarily concerned with Lauer, and no specific complaints about others were discussed. There was no mention of a former NBC News employee's accusation last month that former "Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw made unwanted advances on her, which he has denied.
NBC said the work of its all-female investigative team was reviewed and approved by two outside firms.
"NBC Universal's investigation was thorough, objective and conducted at the corporate level, outside the News division," said Hilary Smith, network spokeswoman.
Lauer was fired in November after it was found he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with another NBC employee. Three additional women subsequently complained about Lauer.
Investigators found no evidence that anyone "in position of authority" at NBC News knew that Lauer had sexual relationships with others in the company until the Nov. 27 complaint by a woman about an affair that began at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Still, two of the four women who complained about Lauer said they believed someone in management knew about his behavior.
Former "Today" anchor Ann Curry had said in a news interview that she had gone to management to say they should watch Lauer after another woman had told her Lauer had harassed her. But NBC's report said Curry declined to reveal to investigators whom she spoke to and that no current or past managers interviewed by investigators said they'd spoken to her about the issue.
Curry was not immediately available to clarify that on Wednesday.
The report said Lauer, who is married, was flirtatious and engaged in sexual banter in the office. Several women said he had complimented them on their appearance in a sexually suggestive way.
Investigators threw cold water on a published report that a button allowed Lauer to lock his office door without getting up from his desk. The button closed the door, but didn't lock it, the report said.
Some of the 68 people interviewed said they were aware of other rumored extramarital affairs in the news division. Most were already known and dealt with; some are being looked into, the report said.
"The investigation team does not believe that there is a widespread or systemic pattern of behavior that violates company policy or a culture of harassment in the News Division," Harris' report said.
The report discussed reasons why some at NBC are reluctant to come forward with complaints — including glass-walled Human Resources offices that made them question whether their concerns would be kept quiet. In a memo to staff, Lack said employees can now bring misconduct reports to an outside law firm that has already helped NBC set up workplace training that has taken place since Lauer's firing.
"I am immensely proud of NBC News, its history and the work we do," Lack said. "But, stepping back from the investigation, that history also includes a time when people were not comfortable coming forward to voice complaints about repugnant behavior. That is not acceptable."
Lack said more than 80 percent of the staff had undergone new training in workplace behavior since Lauer's firing, and that all employees are expected to be done by June 30.
The former NBC News reporter who accused Brokaw of misconduct, Linda Vester, wrote in The Washington Post on Wednesday that NBC should have gone outside the company for its investigation. Vester also said a letter supporting Brokaw that circulated among NBC News employees — and was signed by the likes of Rachel Maddow and Andrea Mitchell — could have a chilling effect.
"NBC News's actions had the effect of communicating to other victims that they wouldn't be believed and would be better off staying silent," Vester wrote.
HONOLULU (AP) — More than half a year after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century burned through a historic Maui town, officials are still trying to determine exactly what went wrong and how to prevent similar catastrophes in the future. But two reports released this week are filling in some of the blanks.
The most recent is a detailed timeline of the fire that tore through the heart of Lahaina on Aug. 8, 2023, killing 101 people. Released Wednesday by Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez, it is the first phase of a three-part comprehensive investigation being conducted by the Fire Safety Research Institute, or FSRI, with more coming in the next several months.
The previous day, the Maui Fire Department put out an after-action report produced by the Western Fire Chiefs Association. It detailed the challenges the department faced, as well as more than 100 recommendations for improvements.
Here are the key takeaways from the reports:
A major windstorm was toppling power lines and utility poles throughout Lahaina, and the first fire of the day sparked when a live power line snapped and hit dry brush. But firefighters and police received mixed messages about whether Hawaiian Electric had de-energized the lines, according to the FSRI report.
In the early afternoon — before the initial fire flared back up and began overtaking the town — a utility worker told fire crews that he could not confirm if the lines were de-energized. It wasn't until after homes began catching fire that dispatchers reached Hawaiian Electric and got confirmation that the power was out.
The report also described a communications breakdown between police, firefighters and other emergency officials. Cellular networks were down, and the police and fire agencies used separate channels that public officials and others couldn't listen to. Overwhelmed dispatchers had single operators trying to monitor as many as five or six channels at once.
Residents and tourists had no way to get emergency alerts or communicate with loved ones, and 911 operators were inundated with calls. One of the operators was off-island and wasn't getting geographical location information with calls, and thus didn't know where to send people fleeing the flames.
Meanwhile the head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, Herman Andaya, was off-island at a work conference and getting regular text messages and calls from staffers about the rapidly changing fires. After a series of evacuations in Lahaina, he asked his assistant if he should come home but was told that “it may look OK,” according to the report. A few hours later, after much of the town had burned, Andaya said he would come home the following morning.
An after-action report from police earlier this year also identified communication challenges and recommended that a high-ranking officer be placed in the island's communication center during future emergencies.
Firefighters thought they had extinguished the morning blaze, which started near a part of town that is far from the ocean. But less than 40 minutes after they left the scene, the flames reerupted, quickly spreading from home to home in a nearby neighborhood.
Wind gusts that were still toppling power lines pushed embers and burning debris farther into Lahaina.
As firefighters and other emergency crews scrambled to evacuate houses and get people to safety, dark smoke dropped visibility to near-zero at times. Those roads that weren't blocked by trees, utility poles or power lines became jammed with traffic that sometimes ground to a standstill.
But the time people had to escape would likely have been tight even if the roads were all clear: Within 90 minutes, spot fires were burning all the way to the ocean, according to the FSRI report, and spreading north and south.
Some people died in their cars. Others leaped into the ocean to escape the flames. Still others abandoned vehicles and fled on foot.
Firefighters risked their lives again and again — packing survivors into fire trucks to get them to safety, physically carrying victims away from danger, and taking shelter behind their own disabled vehicles — according to Tuesday's report.
Many of the department's crews and engines were already deployed to fight other wildfires on a different part of the island when Lahaina began to burn. The back-up fire engines used in emergencies weren't fully stocked with equipment, and valuable minutes were lost restocking them before they could be put into action.
The report also highlighted a lack of mutual aid agreements between Hawaii counties, which meant that there was no standard way to request help from neighboring islands. The agencies also lacked a plan for evacuating tourists and residents who did not speak English — and language barriers made it difficult for the firefighters to warn some people of the need to flee.
FSRI investigators are still trying to get some records from the Maui Emergency Management Agency. Research program manager Derek Alkonis said Wednesday that they requested incident activity logs and other records from MEMA on multiple occasions but still had not received all the data.
Alkonis did not go into detail about what he called “a difficulty with gaining information” from the agency, but said the reason is “going to be analyzed in subsequent reports.”
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is working on a report about the origin and cause of the fire on behalf of the Maui Fire Department. That report is not yet complete but is expected to be released in the next few months.
Boone reported from Boise, Idaho; Keller from Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Lauer from Philadelphia. Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu, Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, Hallie Golden in Seattle, Anita Snow in Phoenix and Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed.
Here are some key events during Aug. 8 contained in the first report from a Hawaii Attorney General investigation into the Maui County wildfires last fall. (AP Digital Embed)
Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) members Derek Alkonis speaks about the Maui Wildfire Phase One Report findings during a press conference on Wed, April 17, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez and members of the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) hold a press conference on the Maui Wildfire Phase One Report findings on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) member Steve Kerber speaks about the Maui Wildfire Phase One Report findings during a press conference on Wed, April 17, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
