Katie Couric Gun Documentary Undermined By Manipulative Editing : NPR

Interviewer Katie Couric asks a group of gun owners the question: “If there are no background checks for gun purchasers, how do you prevent felons or terrorists from purchasing a gun?”

The gun owners respond right away, according to audio recorded by one of the participants.

But in the documentary Under the Gun, footage taken from elsewhere in the interview shows members of a gun advocacy group looking down, not answering, for nine silent seconds.

That’s deception.

No matter where you stand on gun control, it’s outrageous that a professional like Katie Couric would permit this kind of manipulation in a project she headlined.

To show the gun owners blank-faced for an extended time didn’t provide a pause for the viewer — it wiped away the notion these people had an answer to hear. | The deception reflects poorly on Couric, too. She conducted the interviews, serves as the movie’s executive producer and has promoted it extensively. She saw a polished cut of the documentary before its release. She apparently expressed doubt about the insertion of the pause but failed to get it removed from the film.| Regardless, those nine seconds — fleeting moments for the film — amount to a team loss on an unforced error. —NPR