Dan Abrams Discusses Publishing Matt Lauer Op-Ed With CNN’s Brian Stelter

Mediaite founder Dan Abrams appeared on CNN Sunday to discuss the site’s publication of an op-ed by Matt Lauer which criticized the reporting of Ronan Farrow — whose book included an allegation of rape against the former Today Show anchor.

Speaking with Brian Stelter on Reliable Sources, Abrams billed Lauer’s examination of Farrow’s work as a crucial piece of media criticism.

“I run a media site,” Abrams said. “We cover media critique. And what Matt Lauer did is he reached out to four different witnesses who were cited in Ronan Farrow’s book, and checked with them as to whether Ronan Farrow talked to them, and whether the accounts described in Farrow’s book were accurate. And according to all four of them they weren’t. Ronan farrow hadn’t contacted them. And these were critical pieces to the story about what Ronan Farrow was telling about what happened to Matt Lauer.”

Abrams stressed that the column’s publication should not be viewed as “a defense of Matt Lauer,” just that the op-ed was “newsworthy” — adding that Mediaite corroborated the accounts of the four witnesses cited.

Following the publication of Lauer’s op-ed on Tuesday, Farrow responded via Twitter — writing “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.”

Abrams lauded Farrow’s work overall, noting that the issues raised by Lauer should not take away from the work Farrow has done in shining a light on powerful institutions, and exposing sexual predators such as Harvey Weinstein. Yet Abrams also stated he believes Lauer’s claims need to be addressed more specifically by Farrow.

“He deserves enormous credit for the work that he’s done,” Abrams said of Farrow. “But I also think he’s got questions to answer in connection with what Matt Lauer was saying.”

The Mediaite founder added, “This is an important media critique of what was the essential and key allegation against Matt Lauer. And he’s saying, ‘look, about the reporting on this, about the witnesses who are cited to bolster the account, they didn’t say what the book suggests that they said, or this didn’t happen as the book suggests it happened.’ And if you care about accuracy, and you care about journalism, I think that’s important.”

Watch above, via CNN.