Tom Brokaw accuser Linda Vester calls B.S. on NBC's offer to release alleged Matt Lauer victims from non-disclosure agreements

The Daily Beast

Linda Vester, the former NBC News and Fox News correspondent who last year accused Brokaw of sexual misconduct, compared Rachel Maddow's announcement that NBC Universal will release any former NBC News staffer who signed a non-disclosure agreement to a Friday night news dump. "Why is NBC making victims, who have already endured trauma, come crawling on their hands and knees to ask the company to release them from confidentiality agreements?" writes Vester in an article posted to The Daily Beast. "Play out the scenario: a woman with no representation or money calls the company and asks, “Will you let me speak?” NBC then tells her to cough up all the information she has. Then what happens? Does the company just say, 'You’re free to talk'? Or do they retain the right to deny her—or stipulate that she can talk about x but not about y? This seems to be evidence that the company is re-traumatizing victims and still trying to keep them under its thumb. How many women are really likely to volunteer for this cattle call? If NBC genuinely wants to root out the harassment and cover-up problem, it should issue a blanket statement automatically allowing everyone with a secret agreement of any type involving NBC/MSNBC to speak freely and publicly about harassment, retaliation, and tangential gender-based issues. Importantly, the statement should release ALL current and former employees AS WELL AS individuals related to them. Because there are people still inside the company, not just former staffers, who need and want to speak."