On June 6 it was revealed that Yahoo–Katie Couric’s employer–was “caught off guard” by revelations that her film Under the Gun contained a misleading editorial pause which cast pro-gun advocates in a bad light.
Page Six reports Yahoo’s senior executives “rapidly convened after it emerged that eight seconds of silence had been added to an interview.” While the executives recognize that Couric created the film “outside of her Yahoo role,” they cannot ignore the fact that the pause she inserted made “it seem as if [pro-gun] activists were stumped by a question” she asked regarding gun control.
Couric admitted an 8-second pause was editorially inserted between the end of her question and the pro-gun responses. The pause gave the impression that pro-gun individuals were unsure about how to handle Couric’s questions when, in reality, they answered immediately and even rebutted her.
On May 26 NPR criticized Couric’s “manipulation” of gun rights responses, calling it “unfair and unwarranted.” NPR made clear they would never have released a film with such edits in it because their journalistic standards are higher than Couric’s.
On Memorial Day Couric released a statement apologizing for the “misleading” edits. Meanwhile, the director of Couric’s film–Stephanie Soechtig–says she stands by her decision to insert the pause and suggests it is only getting attention because the NRA is fixated on it.
No word yet on whether Yahoo plans to continue employing Couric.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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