A public battle between two former NBC employees serves as a window into the toxic mess of big media. In the new episode of They Stand Corrected: Matt Lauer v. Ronan Farrow.
When Farrow’s book "Catch and Kill" came out, it contained explosive allegations against Lauer, former host of Today (known as “The Today Show”). A woman Lauer had worked with, Brooke Nevils, was accusing Lauer of rape.
The mainstream media treated the book as gospel. But John Ziegler, a writer at the website Mediaite, was willing to take a critical look. Working with Lauer, he helped uncover gaping holes in Farrow’s “reporting.”
Finally, one person at a major newspaper wrote a story about just some of those failings.
It wasn’t just Farrow. News organizations went wild over additional “details” from “sources” — which turned out to be false. In this episode, you’ll hear about a salacious claim that became fodder for headlines. One of the most respected news sites called it, “Perhaps the single most horrifying detail” involving what could be “an accessory worthy of a Bond villain.” No one bothered to find out that it didn’t exist.
This is a story of how victim narratives have supplanted a search for truth. As I explain in this episode:
Victim narratives are the problem, not the solution when it comes to checking facts. It's not about him (Lauer) being a victim. This is about the fact that we, in our society, need trustworthy sources of truth. Those should be news media and non-fiction books. When the media decides who the villain is and who the victim is in this era, basics of journalism are out the window. That happened here. And that makes the behind-the-scenes story of what happened so telling.
The media is like a giant building with a fancy sheen, looking impressive from the outside. But crack open this window, and you see what a disaster it is. There’s so much that’s so wrong, and no one is cleaning it up.
The next newsletter will include a bunch of links about this, so be sure to subscribe.
Listen, and send your questions and feedback. I’ll discuss more details in the next episode.
JL
P.S. ICYMI:
