Katie Couric takes responsibility for creatively edited gun doc

Saying she hopes to “continue to have an important conversation about reducing gun deaths in America,” Couric took the rap Monday for a controversial pause in her Under the Gun documentary.

The film, directed by Stephanie Soechtig, has been criticized for somewhat creative editing that deleted an exchange between Couric and gun rights advocates of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, taking eight seconds of retort and instead filling it with silence.

Late Monday, Couric posted a four-paragraph statement to the film’s website, taking responsibility for the edit.

“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,” she said. “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.”

Couric then went on to lament that she did not press her concerns before the film was released, saying, “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.”

Couric did not mention a four-hour interview with Dr. John Lott, author of More Guns, Less Crime, that was left on the editing room floor.

At least two national petitions were started last week, accompanied by op-ed pieces, seeking the ouster of a Couric by Yahoo over the film.

The National Rifle Association has gone so far as to call Couric a “fraud and hypocrite.”

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