The Ann Curry CBS Interview, I Expected More

• Steve
• January 17, 2018
• 0 Comment
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Ann Curry, former “Today” show host and 15 year employee of NBC did her first interview after her controversial ouster from the television network.  Much of her interview centered around how she left the network and her thoughts on the #metoo movement.

I should first explain that Ann Curry was one of my favorite reporters to watch on television.  Her stories were objective, informative, and impactful.  When she joined “Today” with Matt Lauer, she brought those same types of stories, and that same level journalistic professionalism to the show, that in my opinion really made the show different from the other morning news shows.

When Ann Curry was removed from the show, I was incredibly disappointed and was concerned that the show would lose that “real news” feel that it had gained while she was there.  Needless to say, I was right, and the show reverted back to more of a pop culture, “brunch and mimosa with the girls” type of show.

There was much made about Matt Lauer’s influence on her departure, essentially he wanted her out for reasons never made clear and he got his way.  I never viewed Lauer the same after this and stopped watching the show shortly after her departure.

Fast forward to present day and Curry’s interview on CBS News with Norah O’Donnell and Gayle King.  I thought this was a moment for Ann Curry to talk about her situation, what happened at NBC and her experience as a woman who had been mistreated in the work place.  Since Curry tweeted #metoo at the height of the #metoo movement last year, I thought she would take the opportunity to talk about her experiences with sexual harassment in the work place and how she took control of her own situation and destiny by starting her own production company.

What we got instead was a rather cookie cutter political response where she avoided talking about herself, gave rather general answers, and non-descript euphemisms about “breaking the glass ceiling” and “leveling the power structure”.

Breaking the glass ceiling and leveling the power structure for women and non-white men is important and necessary for any group of people looking to advance, women, black/brown people, the LGBTQ community, and others.  But Ann herself said, we need to focus on the victims and their stories and addressing the issues that face victims.  In order to do this we need to know who the victims are and we need to hear their stories.  We need to know the mechanisms used to marginalize them, and we need to use this information to prevent it from happening again.  I think Ann missed an opportunity here.

While she stated she “wasn’t surprised” by the firing of Lauer, and that she experienced verbal sexual harassment at NBC, she gave no detail as to what was said or done, or even her experience when she was removed from the “Today” show.  I believe she could have delivered a blow to NBC and the power structure there.  She could have helped further the cause of the #metoo movement by exposing others besides Lauer that helped tear her down.  In my opinion this was not the moment to take the high road.

If you want to tear a well built and fortified wall down you have to do more than hurl stones at it, you have to hit it with a wrecking ball.  Ann Curry saying sexual harassment is bad, and women need to break the glass ceiling and level the power balance, is the same as tossing stones at the Hoover Dam.  I believe should could’ve hit the glass ceiling at NBC with a wrecking ball had she gone in depth about her experience there.

To be fair, Ann Curry has a new show coming to PBS in the coming months.  I have to imagine she’s more focused on promoting that new show and building her brand than she is tearing down NBC.  Ann Curry does not come across as the scorched earth, vengeful type so maybe this is the right move for her.  Maybe the message is, instead of being angry, be productive.  Maybe in the end she comes out on top and that’s her contribution.  If that’s the case, I can’t condemn her for that, because the #metoo movement needs builders and creators as much as it needs wrecking crews tearing down the current power structure.

I don’t want to be the screaming, triggered, activist pissed at anyone who doesn’t agree with me, or say what I want them to say, that is much of the problem with current sociopolitical discourse.  I am not attacking Ann Curry for not saying more about her situation, it’s her life and she has a right to privacy.  I guess to me, she’s the perfect person to dig into what is a global problem across all facets of American life.  She has a front row seat and first hand experience so in my simple mind it would be the perfect situation for her to do an expose using her experience as a basis.  But in reality, who am I to tell her how to do her job or exploit her personal life?

In her first television interview since leaving NBC, former “Today” show host Ann Curry is speaking out about the firing of her former co-host Matt Lauer and the pervasive “verbal sexual” harassment during her time at NBC. Lauer was fired over “inappropriate sexual behavior” last November.

“I can say that I would be surprised if — if — many women did not understand that there was a climate of verbal harassment — that existed. I think it’d be surprising if someone said that they didn’t see that. So it was p — a verbal — sexual –,” she said on “CBS This Morning” Wednesday.

“At — at NBC at the time when you were there?” O’Donnell said.

“I don’t wanna cause more pain. But no, I’m — you are asking me a very direct question. I’m an honest person. I wanna tell you that it was. Yes. Period,” Curry replied.

Curry, who’s making a much-anticipated return to TV with her new PBS show, “We’ll Meet Again,” was with NBC’s “Today” show for 15 years. She co-anchored alongside  Lauer from 2011 to 2012 before a highly publicized break with the broadcast. Curry left NBC in 2015 and created her own production company.

Asked if Lauer had abused his power, Curry said, “You know, I — I’m trying to do no harm in these conversations. I can tell you that I — I am not surprised by the allegations.”

The #MeToo movement and recent tidal wave of sexual misconduct allegations has toppled powerful men in media, politics, and entertainment, including the former co-host of “CBS This Morning,” Charlie Rose. Curry says righting the “power imbalance” in the workplace is “absolutely overdue.”

“We clearly are waking up to a reality, an injustice that has been occurring for some time. And I think it will continue to occur until the glass ceiling is finally broken,” she said. “I’m not talking about people being attracted to other people. I’m talking about people in the work place who are powerful, who are abusing that power — and women and men are suffering.”

Curry also called for the focus on sexual harassment to move beyond individual accusations.

“The real question, in my view, is what are we going to do with all of this anger? And it’s not just, obviously, about where I used to work. It’s not about where you’re now working. But it’s about the problem that’s pervasive across industries in work places across America,” she said. “The question is, ultimately, what are we going to do about it?”

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