Former NBC Today show host and CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric is still under fire for the use of deceptive editing in her EPIX documentary Under the Gun.
Media critics like the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple and Fox News’s Howard Kurtz have slammed the Couric documentary and its director Stephanie Soechtig’s for a “pause in the Couric gun film” that “makes it look like something happened which did not in fact happen.”
The editing trick wouldn’t have been exposed if it weren’t for The Virginia Citizens Defense League releasing its own audio of their members being interviewed. It’s as if they were suspicious that they wouldn’t be treated fairly. Of course, that would be a good assumption if they were aware of Couric’s long career of attacking gun rights.
From pressing then Colorado Governor Bill Owens, just one day after the Columbine massacre, about the “accessibility of guns” to asking GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan about President Obama’s January gun control speech “What did you think when the President cried?...Were you affected by it?” Couric has consistently pushed for gun control in her posts at NBC, CBS and Yahoo! News.
The following are just some of the worst examples of Couric’s career-long push against gun rights as collected from the MRC’s archives:
Couric: “What Did You Think When the President Cried?”
“Let’s talk about President Obama’s executive action on guns. What did you think when the President cried?...Were you affected by it?...I know you vehemently oppose the President’s use of executive actions. But constitutional issues aside, Mr. Speaker, do you still believe closing the gun show loophole is reasonable?”
— Yahoo! News anchor Katie Couric to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, January 7, 2016.
Too Zealous About Civil Rights
“As your convention begins today, there is reportedly a power struggle going on within the NRA. More traditional - you're laughing, but this is what by many accounts is the case that there is a schism between traditional NRA members, conservative sportsmen, and a more radical branch of Second Amendment fundamentalist zealots.”
— Today co-host Katie Couric to the NRA's Tanya Metaksa, May 19, 1995.
Liberal Donation To Million Moms
“With Mothers Day coming up this Sunday, we wanted to salute the hard work, integrity and love moms show us every day, so this morning we invited three women who have made their own special contribution to motherhood and, as I said earlier, to all of mankind, in fact. Donna Dees-Thomases founded the Million Mom March...Donna, you organized the Million Mom March, and it really was such a grassroots movement of stroller moms, right? Tell me how it came about.”
— Katie Couric’s introduction and question to anti-gun activist Donna Dees-Thomases, NBC's Today, May 11, 2001.
Exploiting School Shootings to Advance Gun Control
“A lot of people are asking about the accessibility of guns. Have you wondered about that yourself?”
— Katie Couric question to then Colorado Governor Bill Owens, one day after the Columbine School shooting on NBC’s Today show, April 21, 1999
“Are you a proponent of the theory that somehow the fact that these school shootings have taken place in the South is indicative of a southern culture that, that might, I don’t know, be more permissive of this kind of activity or somehow encouraged by the acceptance of guns and hunting?”
— Katie Couric to then Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee after Jonesboro school shooting on NBC’s Today, March 26, 1998.
Katie Couric: “Getting back to kids and guns, if you will indulge me for a moment. You cannot think of any other position the NRA could take in terms of trying to decrease the number of school shootings? You feel like this is not your bailiwick, this is not your problem?”
Charlton Heston: “Not at all. As I told you the NRA spends more money, more time...”
Couric, cutting him off: “Other than education.”
Heston: “Well what would you suppose? What would you suggest?”
Couric: “I don’t know, perhaps greater restrictions.”
— Exchange on the June 8, 1998 Today.
“Speaking of gun safety and children, Mr. Heston, as you well know and in fact as everyone in this country knows there has been a spate of school shootings recently that have been quite disturbing to all Americans. Given the fact that these seem to be happening with greater frequency has it caused you to rethink your philosophy about children and guns and the accessibility of guns for children?”
— Katie Couric to the NRA’s new President, June 8, 1998 Today.
