美国国家公共电台 NPR Former NBC Correspondent Accuses Tom Brokaw Of Sexual Misconduct（在线收听）

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A former NBC News correspondent is accusing Tom Brokaw. She says Brokaw groped and forcibly tried to kiss her in the 1990s. NPR's Scott Neuman has more.

SCOTT NEUMAN, BYLINE: Linda Vester, who worked for NBC for a decade before moving to Fox in 1999, tells Variety magazine that Brokaw made unwanted advances toward her on two occasions in the 1990s. In August 1993, Vester says she was in Denver to cover the visit of Pope John Paul II.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LINDA VESTER: While I was standing in the Denver bureau with my back to the door, from behind me out of nowhere, Tom Brokaw walked up, put his hands on my waist and tickled me all up and down my waist. It was physically unpleasant and humiliating.

NEUMAN: Months later in New York, Vester says Brokaw showed up at her hotel room. She began by exchanging computer messages with him. And Vester says she tried to dissuade him from coming to her room. When she voiced objections to a proposed affair from Brokaw, Vester says...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

VESTER: At that point, he took the same hand, reached behind my head and tried to force me to kiss him. I pulled back with all the strength I could muster and stood up.

NEUMAN: In a statement issued by NBC, the 78-year-old Brokaw says he met Vester on two occasions 23 years ago, that she requested the meetings to discuss her career. He says the meetings were brief, cordial and appropriate and that he never made any romantic overtures toward her.

Brokaw is the second major figure at NBC to be accused of sexual misconduct after several women came forward last year to accuse former host Matt Lauer. Just as the Brokaw story was breaking, Lauer, who was fired from "The Today Show" over the allegations, broke his silence, acknowledging that he acted inappropriately but denying he had ever been coercive, aggressive or abusive. Vester, who worked in war zones for NBC, has since left the news business altogether. She says it was NBC's internal investigation following the allegations against Lauer that prompted her to come forward.

Scott Neuman, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF GOGO PENGUIN'S "BARDO")