it’s common courtesy in journalism in general. “gotcha” moments don’t help anyone and will just kill your chances at landing future interviews, or getting any sources on record.
it’s also something we should do in daily life more often, especially on the web. “steel man” people you are conversing with. If you think someone is saying something completely stupid, maybe you have just misunderstood them, or they misspoke.
i like to think of it as being much more satisfying to dismiss someone as a moron if they’ve repeatedly shown themselves to be such