She tells him going in that he couldn’t handle a “real” (read “antagonistic”) interview and proceeds to prove a point, it was never an honest attempt at an interview.
Better she did it, in private, than 60 Minutes, in public.
Exactly! Hell the article even seems to understand that but then ignores it.
The simplest option here is that Lois is just confronting Superman with the fact that he isn’t media-savvy at all. He’s been tossing himself softball questions to answer, and that’s the extent of his interaction with the media… That would be an easy enough interpretation if she actually followed their confrontational conversation (I can’t really call it an investigative interview) with any warnings for him, or insight into her intentions.
She makes it clear that he can’t handle the interview. She asks questions that he should be able to answer. Is the foreign government lying? Probably. Can you prove it? No. Did you try? No, but I did kidnap the foreign President.
