Catch and Kill

Farrow receives a mysterious message from someone claiming to work in the world of surveillance. He arranges a meeting and is told to go to the back of a Peruvian restaurant without cell service. He sits down, and ten minutes later Igor Ostrovskiy appears with a phone filled with pictures from the surveillance of Farrow’s home. Ostrovskiy explains that he is worried that the work he did for Black Cube may have been illegal. He shares details of tactics, names, and other items of interest.

The New York authorities launch an investigation into Black Cube. An old school friend meets with Farrow and tries to convince him to act as a witness in the investigation. Farrow is reluctant because he wants to be sure that he can protect his sources. 

Igor Ostrovskiy opens up about the tactics used at Black Cube for whom he subcontracted. Farrow researches and uncovers information about Roman Khaykin. He observes the surveillance operatives when they are on different jobs and continues to report on Black Cube throughout the end of 2018. He receives a message from Ostrovskiy about a pen that can record audio and realizes that some of his sources might have been recording him. Farrow learns about other operations in which such pens are used to record potentially incriminating conversations. After a botched operation which uses Israeli intelligence officers on American soil, Ostrovskiy wants to speak to the authorities. He asks Farrow to put him in touch with someone in law enforcement. 

In November 2017 NBC announces that news anchor Matt Lauer has been fired for “inappropriate sexual behavior” (222). Many people at NBC claim to be shocked, and Noah Oppenheim tells employees that the complaint was professional, not criminal in nature. Rich McHugh and Rich Greenberg discuss whether NBC knew about Lauer’s indiscretions. An internal investigations clears NBC of any wrongdoing, but many employees are not convinced. Other media outlets report different versions of events and suggest that Lauer’s conduct was an open secret. Farrow speaks to women who complain of being targeted by Lauer for sex which, though consensual, made them feel awkward and sick. One story about Lauer having a button on his desk which allows him to close the door is repeated by several people. Lauer was able to trap them inside his office using the button.

The complaints suggest that NBC has numerous internal issues of sexual misconduct which were covered up with nondisclosure agreements and financial settlements. Lauer and other executives have all been accused, and their accusers often suffered professionally.

The NBC employee whose complaint resulted in Matt Lauer’s dismissal is Brooke Nevils. She received a large payment and was made to sign a nondisclosure agreement. Nevertheless, she talks to Farrow. Since leaving NBC, she developed an alcohol problem and tried to commit suicide. She claims to have lost everything she cares about. Her whole life was spent dreaming of being a journalist because she believed in “the truth” (228). While covering the Sochi Olympics in 2008, one night after work Matt Lauer approached her in the hotel bar. They drank together and after an evening of fun and pranks, Lauer sent her a message and asked her to come to his room. She went to his room and he immediately began to kiss her, pushed her to the bed, and then forced himself upon her despite her repeated pleas for him to stop. She left his room in tears. Back in her own hotel room she cried, vomited, and passed out.

When she woke up, she found blood on her clothes and her sheets. Over the coming days she was worried that she had angered Lauer. Once they returned to New York, Lauer and Nevils had two more sexual encounters at his apartment. Nevils believes these additional sexual encounters were “completely transactional” (230), and she felt she could not say no due to the influence Lauer had over her career. She told many people about her experiences with Lauer, but nothing ever happened.

Nevils explains that Farrow’s work exposing Harvey Weinstein inspired her to come forward. She filed a formal complaint and told NBC lawyers everything. When Oppenheim announced Lauer’s dismissal. the news made her vomit. NBC declared that Lauer’s indiscretions were professional rather than criminal, even though Nevils had explicitly described a rape to the NBC attorneys. The NBC characterization of her relationship with Lauer portrayed his abuse as a consensual affair and soon workmates treated Nevils with contempt. Some of them sent her abusive messages. NBC made little attempt to keep her story anonymous. Nevils felt unable to continue in her job and during the protracted dispute over her departure she “was hospitalized for post-traumatic stress and alcohol abuse” (233). 

The allegations against Matt Lauer are joined by similar allegations against other media figures. Mark Halperin, Matt Zimmerman, and Tom Brokaw are all accused of sexual harassment or abuse. Andy Lack showed a pattern for killing stories which reported women’s accusations. News outlets describe a “culture of harassment” (235) at NBC, and Farrow receives messages from people familiar with the matter who suggest that the network is trying to cover up their internal issues. One of the main outlets publishing reports about NBC’s failing is the National Enquirer. Part of the success of Harvey Weinstein’s intimidation of the network was his knowledge of the nondisclosure agreements and internal problems which he threatened to reveal if the network published anything incriminating about him. 

Rich McHugh deals with the fallout of the story. He refuses to toe the company line in NBC’s characterization of their failure to publish Farrow’s work. McHugh worries about his future and is offered a raise if he stays at the network. Though concerned that this is an attempt by NBC to buy his silence, he knows his contract will soon run out. Farrow advises him to take the money to support his family, but McHugh cannot do so. He resigns and gives an interview to the New York Times describing exactly how the Harvey Weinstein story was killed.

NBC launches into a frenetic defense. They release an internal menu contradicting McHugh’s story which is filled with errors and mistruths. People involved in the story give interviews disputing NBC’s version of events. NBC’s own news anchors such as Megyn Kelly question the veracity of the memo on air. The memo is part of NBC’s attempt to “rewrite the history of the story at the network” (239), writes Farrow. 

Farrow begins to feel guilty that he dodged questions on NBC’s failure to publish the Harvey Weinstein story. Since The New Yorker article, he tries to focus discussion on the survivors and their stories but is repeatedly asked about the scandal at NBC. The network offers him a new deal, and Farrow is unsure if he should accept it. He needs a job and agrees to hear the network out, to see whether their claims of reformation are true. But as more time passes, more stories and rumors reach him. He cannot in good conscience work for a company and tacitly ignores its misconduct while reporting on misconduct at other networks or places of work. He tells his agent to halt negotiations.

NBC and its networks suddenly blacklist Farrow. Hosts and anchors call Farrow to tell him that his interviews were cancelled without their approval. As he puts his finishing touches to Catch and Kill, the NBC legal team reaches out to him with rumors of litigation.

Meanwhile, Oppenheim is targeted for his role in the Weinstein cover-up. Amid calls for his dismissal, Oppenheim refuses to take responsibility for any role in killing the story at NBC. He also begs Farrow to explain at some point in the future that Oppenheim is “not the villain in all this” (242). Farrow states that NBC’s internal consensus and group-based decision making is culpable for the cover-up. There is no single villain. The failing occurred on an institutional level.

Farrow repairs his relationships with his boyfriend Jonathan and his sister Dylan. Nevertheless, his work on the case leaves much of his personal life strained. Seeing the success other survivors have in telling their stories, Dylan decides to try again to tell her own story of abuse. Farrow and the editors at The New Yorker work on a new batch of stories. One of these stories is to investigate the culture of abuse at NBC. Farrow sits down to interview Brooke Nevils. 

Farrow meets Igor Ostrovskiy again. The investigation work from Black Cube has stopped for Ostrovskiy because he refused to take a lie detector test. His wife recently had a baby, and he confesses that he chose to leak information to Farrow because he worried that what he was doing was wrong. Ostrovskiy started his own private investigation company with a focus on more altruistic jobs.