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Labeling Study | Matt Lauer

Labeling Study
June 2002 labeling study finds that conservatives are tagged four times more than liberals.
(Media Reality Check, June 25, 2002)

 

Matt Lauer
The Today co-host eagerly jumped on the Bill Bennett gambling story, wondering if he was a “gambling addict” and asking Jonathan Alter, “Does this make him a hypocrite based on what he's written and spoken about?”
(CyberAlert, May 6, 2003)

After President Bush’s carrier landing, Lauer demanded of White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett, “Why take this risk with the Commander in Chief…Is the symbolism overshadowing safety?” 
(CyberAlert, May 2, 2003)

Actor Tim Robbins was the recipient of Lauer softballs. The Today co-host allowed the actor to spin a conspiracy tale about how the administration sent “messages to the public on an almost daily basis that they have no right to protest against this President” during the war.
(CyberAlert, April 16, 2003)

After NBC fired its Baghdad correspondent, Peter Arnett, Lauer assured Arnett, “Peter, at the risk of getting myself in trouble, I want to say I respect the work you've done over the last several weeks and I respect the honesty with which you've handled this situation.”
(CyberAlert Extra Edition, March 31, 2003)
(Media Reality Check, March 31, 2003)

Lauer wondered why the Bush administration wasn’t trying to increase taxes instead of cut them, while they were “increasing the deficit” with war in Iraq.
(CyberAlert, March 10, 2003)
(Notable Quotables, March 17, 2003)

Today held a “town hall” meeting on Iraq, but seemed obsessed with how Iraq's destruction of some Al-Samoud missiles supported the views of those who thought Saddam Hussein “is taking steps to cooperate with weapons inspections.”
(CyberAlert, March 4, 2003)

Lauer helped Ted Turner spread the anti-war message of the movie Gods and Generals, asserting: “This is 140-years ago and, and here we are, we are still looking at killing each other.”
(CyberAlert, February 19, 2003)

Lauer claimed the 2001 tax cut was linked to the loss of 1.4 million jobs and wondered why another tax cut would be any different.
(CyberAlert, January 29, 2003)

Lauer helped spread the environmentalist message by reporting a story on the controversy over SUVs and their link to the war in Iraq. Lauer admitted he drove an SUV and expressed guilt about “using more than my fair share of the fuel.”
(CyberAlert, January 29, 2003)

In an hour-long segment devoted to the “sad truth” of racism, bigotry and prejudice, Lauer claimed that “in the wake of 9-11 a disturbing new trend is emerging. So-called anti-Islamic crimes rose a staggering 1600 percent from the previous year.”
(CyberAlert, January 28, 2003)

Lauer gushed over Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards: “He's young, smart, Southern, a self-made millionaire trial lawyer.” 
(CyberAlert, January 3, 2003)

Lauer quoted liberal columnist Maureen Dowd about how the White House was distracting “us from its muddled policy on Iraq by fussing about the economy.”
(CyberAlert, December 10, 2002)

Lauer told new House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, that when the Republicans chose Newt Gingrich to lead them in Congress, “Democrats were very quick to say, 'Hey, the Republicans have gone full tilt to the right.’”
(CyberAlert, November 18, 2002)

Lauer introduced NBC News Pentagon Correspondent Jim Miklaszewski as “NBC’s Penthouse Correspondent.” He quickly corrected himself.
(CyberAlert, October 8, 2002)

According to Lauer and his Today co-host Katie Couric, it’s the viewers that are biased. Citing emails from viewers claiming opposite biases, Lauer said, “It’s much less, I think our point of view than it is the point of view of the person watching the interview.”
(CyberAlert, September 20, 2002)

The Senate’s vote to allow pilots to carry guns in the cockpit distressed Lauer. 
(CyberAlert, September 9, 2002)

NRA President Charlton Heston hadn’t ever reconsidered his support of gun rights after hearing about a shooting incident and Lauer was astonished. Lauer also asked whether Heston thought there would be a “problem” with keeping guns in his house after he had begun showing signs of Alzheimer’s. 
(CyberAlert, September 6, 2002)

In an exchange with Sigourney Weaver, Lauer asked the actress how she could call her movie about a 40-year-old woman who has sex with a 15-year-old boy “sweet.”
(CyberAlert, July 17, 2002)

The Nick News special on kids with gay and lesbian parents had been “a topic of controversy for weeks,” Lauer claimed. But Lauer and NBC failed to give any airtime to the people who were upset by it.
(CyberAlert, June 19, 2002)

Lauer worried that Lynn Cheney’s new book on American history would convey a biased “conservative’s view” of history and would be intolerant.
(CyberAlert, May 23, 2002)

Lauer provided a one-sided forum for two attorneys and their client who was suing several corporations that profited from slavery at one time.
(CyberAlert, April 2, 2002)

Lauer opened a segment on Today on how to spend your tax refund: “Thanks to the new tax laws Americans are seeing bigger tax refunds this year.” A year earlier, however, Lauer worried that the tax cuts allowed Americans to spend money that the government couldn’t “afford.”
(CyberAlert, March 22, 2002)

Lauer gave “best-selling author and ex-conservative David Brock” an easy interview and didn’t once question the conspiracy-theory claims of his book Blinded by the Right. In 1993, when Brock was an American Spectator writer, Today didn’t consider his book on Anita Hill credible.
(CyberAlert, March 14, 2002)

Lauer labeled Senator Ted Kennedy as just “liberal,” but called George W. Bush “one of the most conservative presidents.”
(CyberAlert, March 6, 2002)

Lauer pressed the president of the U.S. Olympic Committee to agree that people should “be careful and draw a line not to let our patriotism get in the way of the games in general.” 
(CyberAlert, February 8, 2002)

In an interview with the author who claimed the United States is as guilty of carrying out terrorism as any nation, Lauer gently challenged the author but by the end of the segment was setting up talking points for him.
(CyberAlert, February 6, 2002)

Lauer prompted Madeleine Albright to denounce President Bush’s “axis of evil” remark and then asked, “does he run the risk of alienating some of our allies by making statements like that?"
(CyberAlert, February 4, 2002)

When Tim Russert called President Bush’s 82-percent approval rating “sky high,” Lauer felt obligated to point out that it had “gone down six points” since November.
(CyberAlert, January 28, 2002)

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