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Behind scenes, NBC execs concede Matt Lauer forum performance was "disaster"
CNN Money ^ | 9-8-2016 | Brian Stelter

Posted on 09/08/2016 10:37:13 AM PDT by tcrlaf

NBC News knows the "Commander-in-Chief Forum" was not Matt Lauer's finest hour.

One executive, speaking anonymously, was blunt about it: "Disaster."

The morning after Lauer's back-to-back interviews of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, several high ranking sources at the network said they hear the criticism and agree with at least some of it.

Lauer was widely criticized for failing to fact-check or follow up when Trump falsely claimed that he was opposed to the Iraq war when it started. Some viewers thought Lauer held Clinton to a higher standard than Trump. Several people who were sitting in the audience told CNN that they were frustrated too.

The ratings for Wednesday night's forum were strong, according to preliminary data. But the reviews were pitiful. So what went wrong? That's what journalists both inside and outside NBC are asking now. There is no clear answer.

Lack of preparation is one theory.

New York Times TV critic James Poniewozik wrote Thursday that Lauer seemed "unprepared on specifics of military and foreign policy: "He performed like a soldier sent on a mission without ammunition, beginning with a disorganized offensive, ending in a humiliating retreat."

But Lauer's interviewing skills are second to none. He has hosted thousands of episodes of the "Today" show.

And he had a week to prep for the forum.

(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bias; cicforum; clinton; lauer; media; miserablefailure; msm; nbc; nbcnews; trump
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To: tcrlaf

“This could literally COST HIM HIS JOB”

He’ll just be exiled to where all malfunctioning lib newsies go............msnbc.


41 posted on 09/08/2016 10:54:47 AM PDT by V_TWIN
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

The Cavuto interview 3 months before the invasion shows Trump was cautious and skeptical of the war but not as clearly against it as he claims today.


42 posted on 09/08/2016 10:55:21 AM PDT by erlayman (yw)
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To: tcrlaf
This could literally COST HIM HIS JOB....

A successful take down of Trump would cost us our country, so I'm okay with a celebrity losing his trivial job.

43 posted on 09/08/2016 10:56:49 AM PDT by Pollster1 (Somebody who agrees with me 80% of the time is a friend and ally, not a 20% traitor. - Ronald Reagan)
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To: tcrlaf
I think Lauer is about to learn what happens to TV Talking Heads that don’t play along with whatever the latest Democrat Group-Think and memes are today.

Ten Hail Gaias and a generous contribution to the Clinton Foundation should do it.

44 posted on 09/08/2016 10:57:04 AM PDT by Madame Dufarge
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To: tcrlaf

Is this the same guy who started in/with MTV, when it came to TV? (the panzy?)


45 posted on 09/08/2016 10:58:08 AM PDT by Bikkuri ((...))
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To: henkster

“If you think Candy Cowley was one sided, you ain’t seen nuthin yet.”

Not to mention gwen ifill


46 posted on 09/08/2016 10:58:12 AM PDT by V_TWIN
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To: Yollopoliuhqui

I got the idea Matt Lauer began to like Trump in the interview, and knew he was over matched.


47 posted on 09/08/2016 10:58:59 AM PDT by castlegreyskull
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To: tcrlaf

Ridiculous article saying he didn’t challenge Trump enough. Their view is that he shouldn’t have stopped arguing until Trump was driven into submission.

Trump DID oppose the Iraq war and he certainly opposed it when Hillary supported it.

And Lauer was actively fighting with Trump and interrupting him to defend Hillary.


48 posted on 09/08/2016 10:59:37 AM PDT by Williams (Make America Great Again)
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To: proust
“He failed because Trump is a lot better at this stuff than people realize.”

Because the lefties have turned people away from even listening to him with their lies and slurs. It's the same way they marginalized Ann Coulter, because if people listened to her, their minds would be changed.

So they call her a "racist", obscentities, liar, etc, sio people won't even listen to her.

They've been doing it to Trump, because when people actually listen to him, they like what he has to say.

49 posted on 09/08/2016 11:02:23 AM PDT by Fido969 (Maybe I';ve been posting for the last 10 years, and rather than spew cr@p you could look up my posts)
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To: tcrlaf
There's something bothering me about all this.

Lauer is an ultra lib. Everyone knows this. He also, undoubtedly, received marching orders from the DNC on how to "interview" Trump.

So what in God's name possessed Lauer to stray this far from his marching orders? What could possibly motivate that?
50 posted on 09/08/2016 11:02:32 AM PDT by JamesP81
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To: tcrlaf

It’s pretty revealing. 100% of the article’s criticism against Lauer is that he was too “hard” on Hillary and too easy on Trump. The facts - number of interruptions, etc - state otherwise, as well as the impression detailed on FR that he was constantly looking for (and prepared for) that one perfect “gotcha” on You Know Who. NBC is disappointed because it didn’t happen. That isn’t disastrous, merely incompetent. Lauer’s job is in no danger.


51 posted on 09/08/2016 11:03:03 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: 1Old Pro

Trump on one occasion said to Howard Stern something along the lines of “Yeah, I guess maybe we had to do it...”

Otherwise Trump articulated an argument against the war, which was a very unpopular position at the time.

The idea that Lauer should have “proven” Trump a liar is ridiculous leftist bias.

The tactic is to always take one thing Trump says out of a long appearance and run around shouting that he lied or did something disqualifying. And then there is reality.


52 posted on 09/08/2016 11:03:20 AM PDT by Williams (Make America Great Again)
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To: CGASMIA68

They were counting on Lauer to bring down Trump with the set up question and Trumps Tweet from 3 years ago regarding sexual assaults in the military. They were sure they could work the feminists into a lather a bring down Trump.


53 posted on 09/08/2016 11:03:51 AM PDT by Trumplican
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To: tcrlaf
... about to learn what happens to TV Talking Heads that don’t play along ...

Ah, Roger Mudd, for instance? How was Mudd to know that the guy he was interviewing, who was running for the Dem nomination for POTUS, was totally clueless on why he wanted to be POTUS?

54 posted on 09/08/2016 11:04:00 AM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: tcrlaf
Media Research Center page on Matt Lauer.
55 posted on 09/08/2016 11:04:06 AM PDT by \/\/ayne (I regret that I have but one subscription cancellation notice to give to my local newspaper.)
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To: Scott from the Left Coast

I recently referred to the MSM as Pravda to my older sister last week, and she asked me what that was. It was then that I realized so many members of my family are low information voters. They believe whatever they are told by the alphabets. The good news is she was quite receptive to hearing all the dirt on Hillary I know. I still have a ways to go with these siblings, so I hope I’m not out of time.


56 posted on 09/08/2016 11:04:14 AM PDT by FamiliarFace
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To: tcrlaf

No mention of fact checking Hillary’s answers? All she did was lie.


57 posted on 09/08/2016 11:04:49 AM PDT by Revel
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To: tcrlaf
Yeah, but Matt was wearing his "Serious" glasses.

That must mean that he's got gravitas. And is smart.

58 posted on 09/08/2016 11:05:04 AM PDT by wbill
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To: hecticskeptic

I was surprised Hillary got tough questions and so much about email. I thought they were going hard on the email to get all those questions out of the way before the debate.

Notice that no “journalists” asked her tough questions about her new email lie today.

Ambassador Bolton explained her lie on Breitbart today very well. He said in her government office, she would have had 2 computers. One secure, not hooked up to the internet for classified info and one hooked up to the internet and not used for classified info. She was obviously trying to weasel another lie based on her government office and not her private server at home.


59 posted on 09/08/2016 11:06:45 AM PDT by Trumplican
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To: tcrlaf
But Lauer's interviewing skills are second to none.

Demonstrably not, it seems.

So much for the value of Brian Stelter at CNN Money.

60 posted on 09/08/2016 11:07:12 AM PDT by Calvin Locke
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