Matt Lauer says the section of Ronan Farrow's book about him was underreported and biased

The disgraced Today Show host weighs in on Farrow's reporting, following a New York Times criticism published earlier in the week

By Sophie Mann

Published: May 20, 2020 10:46am

Updated: May 20, 2020 11:58am

One day after the New York Times published media columnist Ben Smith’s critique of Ronan Farrow’s journalism, Mediaite ran a piece by Matt Lauer, who was fired from NBC's "Today" show in 2017 for an inappropriate relationship with a co-worker, which Farrow wrote about in his 2019 book “Catch and Kill.”

Lauer laid into Farrow’s reporting, pointing to specific pages of “Catch and Kill” and suggesting that the author had not accurately vetted a number of the claims he made about Lauer’s behavior at his former network.

“What I found when I read the book was frankly shocking, and it should concern anyone who cares about journalism” wrote Lauer.

"Catch and Kill" documents the accusation by Lauer's former coworker about their sexual relationship, which purportedly began in Sochi, Japan, at the 2014 Winter Olympics when Lauer raped her in his hotel room.

Lauer denies the rape charge, claiming that the events of that evening and the subsequent sexual relationship were consensual.

In response to the Mediaite article, Farrow tweeted, “All I’ll say on this is that Matt Lauer is just wrong. ‘Catch and Kill’ was thoroughly reported and fact-checked, including with Matt Lauer himself.”

Lauer said he had initially planned to run his piece in late 2019, but personal reasons considerations and larger news events delayed the timing of the article.

“Ronan’s dedication to a deep and thorough fact-check of his reporting, his commitment to the rights of victims and his impeccable attention to detail and nuance make us proud to be his publisher,” said Little, Brown and Co., the publisher of “Catch and Kill.”

Brooke Nevils, the former NBC employee and woman who accused Matt Lauer of rape responded to the Mediaite piece by tweeting: "DARVO: Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender." DARVO is an acronym used to describe a gaslighting method that abusers employ to reverse the target of blame in a situation where they have been accused of wrongdoing.