Traditionally, apologies don’t contain lies. So the statement Katie Couric just put out doesn’t qualify as an apology.
Katie Couric apologized and accepted responsibility for misrepresenting gun rights activists in her upcoming documentary “Under the Gun,” Monday.
“I take responsibility for a decision that misrepresented an exchange I had with members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League,” Couric said in a statement…
“When I screened an early version of the film with the director, Stephanie Soechtig, I questioned her and the editor about the pause and was told that a ‘beat’ was added for, as she described it, ‘dramatic effect,’ to give the audience a moment to consider the question. When VCDL members recently pointed out that they had in fact immediately answered this question, I went back and reviewed it and agree that those eight seconds do not accurately represent their response.”
If you want to know where she pulled this answer from, just Google “Katie Couric colonoscopy.”
Here’s what Couric heard when she interviewed those people:
And here’s what ended up in the “documentary”:
And here’s the conversation about that glaring discrepancy, according to Couric:
Soechtig: Okay, there’s the rough cut of the film. What did you think?
Couric: It’s good, but I’m not sure about that part where I ask those gun nuts a question and they don’t answer. There’s like 10 seconds of dead silence while they look around like dummies. I don’t remember that happening. They answered the question. For several minutes, actually. I kept saying, “No, but…” And they just kept talking!
Soechtig: What, that? Don’t worry about that. I just put that in for dramatic effect. We need to let people think about the really smart question you just asked. The answers they gave don’t really matter.
Couric: Oh. Okay. Cool!
See, you guys? Katie Couric isn’t dishonest. She’s just stupid enough to fall for such a ridiculous excuse. And when the targets called her out on it, she stonewalled them for days because she’s just such a dimwit that she just plain forgot ever expressing any reservations about that scene in the film.
Here’s another quote from Couric’s horse-apple “apology”:
“VCDL members have a right for their answers to be shared and so we have posted a transcript of their responses here. I regret that those eight seconds were misleading and that I did not raise my initial concerns more vigorously.”
It was just eight seconds, everybody. Why all the fuss over eight lousy seconds? Plus, she had initial concerns, which she didn’t tell us about until now.
And she put up a transcript of the conversation! That fixes everything. Never mind that this is like printing a lie on page 1 and printing the retraction on page 28. Never mind that the lie is out there for all the people who watch the movie and never see the truth.
The truth was never the point.
Nope. Not good enough, Katie. Try again. And this time, don’t lie. If that’s even possible.
Update: From the guy who broke this story…
Interesting. No mention of correcting the film itself which is still running on Epix.
https://t.co/WgIu2mIay2— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) May 31, 2016
Update: This is not going away, Katie.
After initially defending @katiecouric movie, Epix just announced that bec of fraudulent editing it is pulling the movie from being aired.
— John R Lott Jr. (@JohnRLottJr) May 31, 2016