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This CNN politics reporter just perfectly explained why Matt Lauer's Trump interview was a disaster

CNN's Dylan Byers (Photo: Screen capture)
Sarah K. Burris
September 08, 2016

The CNN "New Day" morning panel joined the chorus of heckling against candidate forum moderator Matt Lauer on Thursday, but it was CNN senior media and politics reporter Dylan Byers who crushed him.

"Political interviews, forums, town halls, debates, these are really big, significant deals. They're especially big, significant deals given all that's at stake in the 2016 election. You don't send Matt Lauer to do a political reporter's job. Look, in a debate, it might be fair to argue that you can let the two candidates fact-check each other. But when it comes to these one-on-one interviews, these forums, you have to step up and play that role. That onus is on you, and Matt Lauer didn't do that. He certainly didn't do that with Donald Trump. He didn't do it on the Iraq War. He didn't do it on a number of other issues and frankly, this criticism that he went a lot harder on Hillary Clinton than Donald Trump, I think, is well founded."

Fellow reporter Brian Stelter agreed, saying political reporters have an ethical duty to hold both candidates to the same standards. "I saw the journalistic challenge of this decade. Interviewing Donald Trump and challenging him when he is wrong is the unique challenge of our time. Hillary Clinton is a challenge as well, but Trump is a unique challenge and Lauer did not step up to that challenge last night."

Check out the full exchange below:

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