Noah Oppenheim | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Oppenheim in 2025 | |
| Born | 1977 or 1978 (age 47–48)[1] |
| Education | Harvard University (AB) |
| Occupations | Journalist, television producer, author, screenwriter |
| Known for | President ofNBC News |
| Spouse | Allison Oppenheim |
Noah Oppenheim (born 1977 or 1978)[1] is an American television producer, author, and screenwriter. Previously, Oppenheim was the executive in charge and senior producer ofNBC'sToday Show, where he supervised the 7–8am hour of the broadcast, and head of development at the production companyReveille.[2][3] He became president ofNBC News in 2017.[4] The same year,Ronan Farrow claimed that Oppenheim attempted to stop his reporting on theHarvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases, a claim that Oppenheim denied. Oppenheim stepped down as president of NBC News in January 2023 and entered into a film and TV production agreement with NBCUniversal.[5]
Oppenheim was born to aJewish family ofAshkenazi descent,[1] the son of Marcia (née Nusbaum) and Jay Oppenheim.[6] He attendedThe Gregory School inTucson, Arizona, and served as an editor and writer for the school newspaper, theGregorian Chant.[7] After high school, Oppenheim graduatedmagna cum laude fromHarvard University in 2000.[8] While attending Harvard, Oppenheim was editorial chair ofThe Harvard Crimson.[citation needed]
In October 2006, Oppenheim and David Kidder co-authored theRodale, Inc. seriesThe Intellectual Devotional.[9] The series’ volume "The Intellectual Devotional, American History" madeThe New York Times Best Seller list for political books in 2007.[10]
As a screenwriter, Oppenheim wrote the filmJackie, for which he won best screenplay at the73rd Venice International Film Festival,[11][12] and co-wrote the scripts forThe Maze Runner andThe Divergent Series: Allegiant.[13][14]
In November 2022,Variety reported that Oppenheim andEric Newman co-wrote a political thriller series in production forNetflix calledZero Day, starring Robert De Niro as a former US president.[15]
In 2024, Oppenheim founded a production company,Prologue Entertainment, withLloyd Braun and Sarah Bremmer.[16]
Oppenheim wrote the screenplay for the 2025 filmA House of Dynamite, directed byKathryn Bigelow and released on Netflix.[16]
Oppenheim started his television career at MSNBC in 2001 as a senior producer onHardball with Chris Matthews.[17][18] He then became the executive producer ofScarborough Country when it launched in 2003.[19][20]
Later in 2003, Oppenheim wrote an op-ed criticizing the media's coverage of the Iraq War.[21][22]NBC Nightly News executive producerSteve Capus and anchorTom Brokaw complained about an opinion article being written by an NBC-affiliated producer.[23]
He left MSNBC in 2004, returning NBC News in 2005, where he helped createCNBC'sMad Money withJim Cramer, and worked as the senior producer ofThe Today Show until 2008.[2][24]
In 2008, Oppenheim joined Los Angeles entertainment groupReveille as its vice president of development.[25] He oversaw development of various television shows includingThe Buried Life andIt's On with Alexa Chung[26] He left in 2010.[27]
In January 2015, Oppenheim returned to NBC as senior vice president ofToday.[2] Oppenheim was made president ofNBC News in February 2017.[28]
Under Oppenheim, in May 2019 NBC News launched a streaming service called NBC News Now.[29][30] In December 2021, Oppenheim said competition was intensifying to become the preferred new streaming service as consumer habits shifted toward dedicated streaming platforms.[31][32]
In June 2019, Oppenheim was one of three heads of US broadcast news outlets to promise that coverage of the 2020 presidential election cycle to be more in-depth and "nuanced." Oppenheim said NBC News was hiring a large number of journalists to cover the election campaign, including journalists from local papers around the country who were knowledgeable about their region.[33] In August 2020, Oppenheim said NBC News had doubled the number of staff tasked with covering election security and misinformation.[34] But he said he was trying to avoid a "self-fulfilling prophecy of [electoral] chaos and confusion."[34] "Frankly, the well-being of the country depends on us being cautious, disciplined and unassailably correct," he toldThe New York Times.[35]
During his tenure as president of NBC News, articles and opinion pieces Oppenheim wrote while attending Harvard resurfaced, which raised concerns about the culture Oppenheim is cultivating at NBC and whether it is accommodating to female employees.[36][37] He has been accused ofself-dealing by repeatedly promoting children's books co-authored by his wife on theToday Show.[38]
In 2021, Oppenheim served as executive producer on the NBC News Studios projectsThe Thing About Pam[39][40][41] andMemory Box: Echoes of 9/11.[42][41]
In March 2022, Oppenheim told Variety that NBC News Studios was launching in theUnited Kingdom as the first phase of a planned overseas expansion for the streaming service outside ofNorth America, explaining that the UK was chosen in part because it was “a hub of our global news gathering operations.”[43]
On January 11, 2023, NBC said that Oppenheim would be stepping down as president of NBC News and had entered into a film and TV production agreement with NBCUniversal.[5] According toVariety, Oppenheim expanded NBC News during his tenure, including by introducing streaming services, podcasts and digital products based on the morning showToday. He also hired many print journalists for its digital and traditional news operations and “helped steady” theToday show.[44][45]
In 2019,Ronan Farrow alleged that Oppenheim, while initially supportive of his reporting on theHarvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations, later participated in efforts by NBC executives to stop investigation efforts by Farrow, ultimately resulting in Farrow's contract not being renewed.[46][47] Farrow took the story toThe New Yorker which published it soon afterwards.[48][49][50]
The NBC News organization and Oppenheim were criticized for not publishing the Weinstein story, and later over the news ofsexual harassment claims against Matt Lauer.[28][51]Farrow later alleged that Oppenheim played a major role in refusing to allow NBC News to report on those allegations in 2017. Oppenheim denied Farrow's claim and stated that the reason NBC News chose not to report on the story was that the available evidence did not meet their journalistic standards.[46] However, other accounts of contemporary discussions within NBC News are consistent with Oppenheim preventing NBC journalists from reporting on Weinstein.[46] Oppenheim denied that NBC hid the Matt Lauer accusations over the years and calls Farrow's book a "smear" though many on his staff remain skeptical.[52] Farrow also reported that NBC News hired a "Wikipedia whitewasher" whoremoved references to NBC's role in the Weinstein case from several Wikipedia articles, including Oppenheim's.[53]
Oppenheim is married to Allison Oppenheim.[54][55]
In Oppenheim's mind, he was somehow the victim here. He had launched an amazing and important investigation, only to be saddled with two journalists who just didn't live up to his exceptional standards. Never mind that the New Yorker found a way to publish the same investigation he had killed. Never mind that he was continuing to sit on the results of that investigation while every other news outlet in the country pursued it. He, Noah Oppenheim, was the hero of the tale.
NBC says that, you know, you didn't- that the story wasn't publishable, that it wasn't ready to go by the time you brought it to them," she said, referring to Oppenheim's and Kornblau's suggestions that I'd pitched the story, come up empty, then gone off to report it elsewhere of my own volition. Maddow pressed an inded finger on her Lucite desk. Her real eyebrows arched up, and, in the desk, her reflected ones plunged down: a Cirque du Soleil of skepticism. "But obviously it was ready to go by the time you got it into The New Yorker." I'd been clear with Oppenheim that I'd avoid, but wouldn't lie. "I walked into the door at The New Yorker with an explosively reportable piece that should have been public earlier, and immediately, obviously, The New Yorker recognized that," I said. "It is not accurate to say that it was not reportable. In fact, there were multiple determinations that it was reportable at NBC.
