Lauer-Moore Interview Transcript

The Matt Lauer - Michael Moore interview transcript is up at MSNBC.

It drips of character assassination not journalism.  Lauer is completely hard cross and skeptical in this interview.  It's a blatant attempt to destroy Moore's credibility.  Here's a taste...

---
Moore may downplay the politics, but the political nature of the film almost derailed it. Because of the content, the Walt Disney Co. refused to release it, suddenly leaving Moore without a distributor.

Lauer: "Disney decided they didn't want to distribute it. And basically, you accused them of censorship. Why?"

Moore: "Well, because they had made this movie. I mean for a year they sent me a check every month so I could make this film. And this was all with the intent of, you know, this film's going to be distributed. To find out just weeks before it's supposed to come out, after Disney sends an executive here to New York, sits in my office, watches the movie and he's like, 'whoa,' you know, and then reports back. Then they have a board meeting the next week, and they say, you know, 'No. There's no way we're going to distribute this.'"

Lauer: "It's their right, though. They're a distribution company."

Moore: "That's right." 'It's not government censorship. It's censorship by a corporation... As you have fewer and fewer voices in a democracy, in a free society. It's not good to limit the number of voices.'

Lauer: "You know what? They paid you? The checks cleared and they can look at it and say, you know what? This is not the kind of movie we want to distribute right now. Maybe it's too political. Maybe it won't attract a wide enough audience. It's their right."

Moore: "It's their right. Except here's the difference. It's not government censorship. It's censorship by a corporation. And we're at a point now, Matt, where we have fewer and fewer companies owning all our media. I mean here we are at NBC, which just bought Universal, which is owned by GE. As you have fewer and fewer voices in a democracy, in a free society, it's not good to limit the number of voices."

Disney defends 'business decision'
Disney's CEO, Michael Eisner denied the censorship charges, saying that it was a business decision that, "In the case of `Fahrenheit 9/11' we chose a path that was right for the company and its stakeholders."

Disney agreed to sell the rights to "Fahrenheit 9/11" to Miramax co-founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who found two distributors willing to release it in theatres.

Lauer: "The Weinstein brothers of Miramax bought the film back. And now Harvey Weinstein is a Democratic organizer. He does fund-raisers for John Kerry."

Moore: "Yeah."

Lauer: "And you've hired a couple of seasoned Clinton politicos to handle publicity and marketing for the film. So at this stage on, will you concede, it is now a sharply political movie with a very definitive point of view."

Moore: "It definitely has a point of view, that's absolutely correct. But I'm not a member of the Democratic Party. If you know anything about me, anybody who's followed me, I'm the anti-Democrat. I have railed against the Democrats for a long time. They have been a weak-kneed, wimpy party that hasn't stood up to the Republicans. They let the working people down across this country. I rallied against Clinton when he was in office. I didn't vote for him in `96. I didn't vote for Gore in 2000. This is not a partisan issue with me, this is not me trying to -"

Lauer: "Not a personal attack on the Bush family."

Moore: "Oh yeah. It's that. If you'd asked the question that way."

Not against Democrats or Republicans, just Bush family

'They got special help. They were put first in line because of this relationship between the Bush family and the Saudi royal family and I wish somebody would just say that.'
...

Moore: "You know I've been sitting here for like the last 20 minutes thinking, man, if he would have only asked Bush administration officials these kind of hard questions in the weeks leading up to the war, and then when the war started, maybe there wouldn't be a war. Because the American people, once given the truth, you know the old saying from Abraham Lincoln, give the people the facts and the Republic will be safe."

"Fahrenheit 9/11" opens nationwide June 25, released in between 500 and 1,000 theaters, making it one of the biggest openings ever for a documentary. However, Moore says it's not about the box office, but the Oval Office, and provoking debate in this election year.

Lauer: "There is so much political animosity in this country right now, such a deep divide, black and white. And you know the expression, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem? With a movie like this, do you see yourself as part of the solution?"

Moore: "Oh, I hope so. If I can just -- if I do nothing else but just get people out to vote, regardless who they vote for, if I can get that 50 percent, or part of that 50 percent out that has chosen not to vote, to engage and to come back in and care about what's going on, then I will feel like I've done something important."
---

Wow...where's the journalism?

•  MWO

  Too bad Media Whores Online is "out to pasture;" Laurer has certainly earned a "Whore of the Week" nomination.

  by davybaby3 on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 08:27:28 AM PDT

  •  I miss MWO

    When are they coming back to pasture? I hope it's by election time.

    by thinkdouble on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 08:35:15 AM PDT

•  Where's the journalism

  This question presupposes that Lauer is an actual journalist.

  Incidentally, now that we can edit our diaries, might I suggest clipping most of the transcript and putting it into extended text, for the convenience of your readers on the Diary page? My scrolling finger is killing me.  : )

  by Maryscott OConnor on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 08:28:20 AM PDT

  •  Good Idea!

    Thanks Maryscott.  I'm a little new to this.  Will do.

    by Titian on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 08:32:17 AM PDT

•  why does Matt Lauer hate America?

  couldn't resist...he really is an affront to working journalists...should've known he'd become a bitter partisan rethug by that horrible haircut ;)

  (by the way, John Stossel on 20/20 went after "SuperSize Me"--it seems broadcast "journalists" really hate documentaries!)

  by southc on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 08:39:23 AM PDT

  •  My first clue . . .

    I don't watch TV much, but my first clue that Lauer was just another whore came during the Dean campaign. Lauer was just nasty to Dean -- interrupting, condescending, cross-examining, etc. As Moore said, if only these clowns had been so hard on Bushco, we might not be in this war. But of course, Republicans never get this kind of treatment. When was the last time a Republican was accused of fomenting division and partisanship in this country, even when someone like Sean Hannity writes a book labelling every liberal "evil"?

    by Dan Perreten on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 08:47:20 AM PDT

    •  geez i can only imagine how he'd be with Dean

      i never really paid much attention to Lauer before but now that I'm back in a day-shift job, I tend to turn on the morning shows for background noise...

      And in the last few months, when both Matt and Katie are doing hard news interviews in the morning talking to people Senators and 9/11 families etc., they both tend to forget about their "journalistic integrity"...they both tend to ask leading and biased questions, and it's particularly their tone that is overboard...

      It's like they've gone to the Bill O'Reilly School of Faux-Journalism...

      by southc on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 08:58:13 AM PDT

•  LauPer-Moore

  oh man i got so excited coz i thought that said LauPer-Moore Interview!!!!!!

  www.nornsisland.com

  by n69n on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 09:03:38 AM PDT

  •  You with the sad eyes

    Don't be discouraged
    Oh I realize
    It's hard to take courage
    In a world with Matt Lauer
    You can lose sight of it all
    And the darkness inside you
    Can make you feel so small

    But I see your true colors
    Shining through
    I see your true colors
    And that's why I love you
    So don't be afraid to let them show
    Your true colors
    True colors are beautiful,
    Like a rainbow
    

    by joejoejoe on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 09:34:31 AM PDT

•  Is it me

  or did Lauer look like John Torturro?  I kept waiting for him to look at Moore and go "You stole my stories"...

  by reef the dog on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 09:05:42 AM PDT

  •  Looks more like Kevin Nealon from SNL

    The first time I saw him I did a double-take.

    Here's Kevin:

    http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-26055/Kevin_Nealon/

    

    Here's Matt:

    

     Perhaps Lauer could get a gig going on SNL, as he clearly is no longer a credible journalist.
    

    by ericy on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 10:16:13 AM PDT

•  GAH

  "You know what? They paid you? The checks cleared and they can look at it and say, you know what? This is not the kind of movie we want to distribute right now. Maybe it's too political. Maybe it won't attract a wide enough audience. It's their right."

  You know, if F 9/11 doesn't clear 100 million in America alone, I WILL eat my hat.

  Won't attract a wide enough audience? For a lower-key release, 100 milion+ in returns is a damn easy decision to make.

  Of course, Disney is up to their necks with ego. See burying Spirited Away in favour of that crap Treasure Planet. That was a cinimatic travesty of the nth degree.

  by Karmakin on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 09:08:34 AM PDT

•  Hearing is alot here

  the tone of Lauer was deplorable. It's too back there isn't streaming video of it because Lauer was a streaming pile.

  by wilfred on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 09:15:20 AM PDT

  •  If anyone finds a streaming video...

    ...pass it along. While reading through the transcript, I kept wishing for a tone check.      

    by Titian on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 10:25:51 AM PDT

•  Imperial presidency

  At some point a couple of months ago, I was pretty sure that the strategy of demonizing all critics of the administration, regardless of their actual motives or credentials, was doomed to failure. Wouldn't people, even Bush supporters, grow weary of the rote character assassination and cease to accept such conduct? Boy, I was naïve! The way that the press and the pseudo-press continues to hang onto the trouser cuffs of the administration is amazing to behold.

  I'm confused. I've always thought it was our role to maintain a civil discourse and that would triumph in the end. But I'm beginning to lose patience and want to start using innuendo, false analogy, and ad hominem arguments just like they do! Hmmm. . .

  by MarkC on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 09:41:48 AM PDT

•  Today Show

  Katie Couric and WHO?  Oh, that guy.

  God, what an idiot.  To Moore: just admit, you're partisan!

  Too many journalists seem to use "Democratic partisan" to knock down what the person has to say.  I thought Joe Wilson did a good job with that issue with Tim Russert.

  by Unstable Isotope on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 09:55:48 AM PDT

  •  I'm sorry

    I should have said "journalists."

    by Unstable Isotope on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 09:56:48 AM PDT

•  interview

  Moore had some good responses in what I just read. Does he comes across well in the entire interview ?

  His point about corporate censorship, and the dominance of a few was excellent.

  by bigbay on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 10:28:36 AM PDT

•  Lauer: A-hole

  Lauer just went from being a typical untalented blatherer to being an official member of Big Media Enemies shit list

  by assyrian64 on Sat Jun 19, 2004 at 11:26:46 AM PDT