Lauer Lectures Media: 'Don't Jump to Conclusions'...Like NBC

In an interview with Ben Affleck on Monday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer observed that the actor's new murder mystery thriller Gone Girl was "a little hostile to the institution of the media." Affleck agreed but reassured Lauer: "Yeah, it's not media broadly. It's not you guys or The New York Times or even the news. It's about that stripe of media that's the sort of the cable, 24-hour, 'Who killed somebody today?,' you know, kind of hustle."

Affleck – who plays a husband suspected of murdering his wife amid a media frenzy in the film – listed various real-life murder cases the press became obsessed with: "...Scott Peterson or Laci Peterson or whatever, Amanda Knox, or that girl whose daughter died. You know, whatever horrible thing happens, there's somebody kind of really sanctimonious running a show twenty four hours a day trying to make money off of it..." Of course NBC was saturated with sensational coverage of all of those stories as well.

Moments later, Lauer declared: "But it is important. I think the message that some people in the media should take away from this is, wait until the facts are in. Don't jump to conclusions." [Listen to the audio [1] [1]]

Affleck responded: "Yeah, I think there's – obviously you guys know this – there's sort of a race to be first. And the internet has made that worse because people are this posting stuff..." Lauer chimed in: "Exactly."

Affleck finished his thought by actually referencing an infamous case of NBC jumping to conclusions [2] and accusing an innocent man of a deadly terrorist attack: "...and you want to get viewers and somebody with new news is news, beating the next guy. And then you get the Richard Jewell-type situations and so on."

In 1996, NBC characterized Richard Jewell as the prime suspect in the Atlanta Olympic Park bombing. Then-Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw went so far as to report that the authorities "probably have enough to arrest him right now." Jewell was later proved innocent when the real bomber Eric Rudolph was apprehended.

As for Affleck's assertion that The New York Times should also be excluded from criticism, during the 2008 presidential campaign the so-called "paper of record" notoriously made false claims [3] against Senator John McCain having an affair with a lobbyist.

Here is a transcript of Lauer's September 29 exchange with Affleck:

8:22 AM ET

(...)

MATT LAUER: It's [Affleck's new movie Gone Girl] a little hostile to the institution of the media.

BEN AFFLECK: It is.

LAUER: Okay, you're laughing. Fair depiction? A certain area of the media.

AFFLECK: Yeah, it's not media broadly. It's not you guys or The New York Times or even the news. It's about that stripe of media that's the sort of the cable, 24-hour, "Who killed somebody today?," you know, kind of hustle. Like I said, Scott Peterson or Laci Peterson or whatever, Amanda Knox, or that girl whose daughter died. You know, whatever horrible thing happens, there's somebody kind of really sanctimonious running a show twenty four hours a day trying to make money off of it and that's what they're-

LAUER: And as someone who has, I'm sure, been the subject of that narrow strip of the media over the course of your career, did you just love poking a sharp stick in its eye?

AFFLECK: I wish that if we were going to set up something it would probably be something closer to the celebrity media. I mean, it's different but it's related. I can definitely identify with the idea of like looking at myself through the prism of some media, whether it's a tabloid or a television show or whatever, and not recognizing myself at all. And I'm thinking, how did they get this on there? Fortunately, neither I nor my wife have been accused of killing somebody yet, so I haven't quite graduated to the, you know, Amanda Knox level.

LAUER: But it is important. I think the message that some people in the media should take away from this is, wait until the facts are in. Don't jump to conclusions.

AFFLECK: Yeah, I think there's – obviously you guys know this – there's sort of a race to be first. And the internet has made that worse because people are this posting stuff...

LAUER: Exactly.

AFFLECK: ...and you want to get viewers and somebody with new news is news, beating the next guy. And then you get the Richard Jewell-type situations and so on.

(...)