BUSTED: Katie Couric Anti-Gun Doc Deceptively Edited to Make Pro-Gunners Look Foolish

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
May. 25, 2016

What do you do if you're an anti-gun liberal making a propaganda film and you lose every single argument you have with pro-gun right-wingers?

If you're Katie Couric, you simply edit your footage to make it look like you're a genius and your opponents are ignorant fools.

From the Free Beacon:

The makers of a new Katie Couric documentary on gun violence deceptively edited an interview between Couric and a group of gun rights activists in an apparent attempt to embarrass the activists, an audio recording of the full interview shows.

At the 21:48 mark of Under the Gun a scene of Katie Couric interviewing members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun rights organization, is shown.

Couric can be heard in the interview asking activists from the group, "If there are no background checks for gun purchasers, how do you prevent felons or terrorists from purchasing a gun?"

The documentary then shows the activists sitting silently for nine awkward seconds, unable to provide an answer. It then cuts to the next scene. The moment can be watched here:

However, raw audio of the interview between Katie Couric and the activists provided to the Washington Free Beacon shows the scene was deceptively edited. Instead of silence, Couric's question is met immediately with answers from the activists. A back and forth between a number of the league's members and Couric over the issue of background checks proceeds for more than four minutes after the original question is asked.

After the story went viral, the director Stephanie Soechtig went on to defend the fraudulent editing and claim her intent was to "provide a pause for the viewer."

The Washington Post's Erik Wemple tweeted a statement from Under the Gun's director Stephanie Soechtig.

Got a statement from director Stephanie Soechtig regarding allegations of deceptive editing on Katie Couric gun doc. 1
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) May 25, 2016
Soechtig: "There are a wide range of views expressed in the film. My intention was to provide a pause for the viewer….2

-- ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) May 25, 2016
…to have a moment to consider this important question before presenting the facts on Americans' opinions on background checks." 3

-- ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) May 25, 2016
"I never intended to make anyone look bad and I apologize if anyone felt that way."

-- ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) May 25, 2016

The Washington Post's Erik Wemple also tweeted a statement from Katie Couric.

And statement from Katie Couric of "Under the Gun": "I support Stephanie's statement and am very proud of the film."

— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) May 25, 2016

"I am very proud of the fraud she committed to make me look smart."

I guess Couric thinks because The Daily Show and others pull the same garbage every night it's fine if she does it too. The difference is she can't hide behind the whole "it's just a comedy show" spiel.

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