Repeat Offender: Katie Couric Edited RBG Interview to Remove Criticism of NFL Protests

Veteran journalist was involved in 2016 doc that misrepresented gun-rights activists

Chuck Ross • October 13, 2021 5:15 pm

Katie Couric admits in her forthcoming memoir she intentionally cut out Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s criticism of NFL anthem protests from a taped interview in order to protect the Supreme Court justice’s legacy, the latest instance of the veteran journalist selectively editing interviews.

Couric reveals in Going There that a 2016 interview with Ginsburg was edited to omit the liberal icon’s statement that NFL players who kneeled for the national anthem displayed a “contempt for a government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life.” The former Today Show host, who is a member of the Aspen Institute’s commission on media disinformation, wrote that she wanted to protect Ginsburg from public backlash and that she did not believe the octogenarian justice fully understood her question, according to the Daily Mail.

Couric’s admission marks a pattern for the reporter. In 2016, the makers of a documentary featuring Couric admitted that they edited her interview with a gun-rights group in order to portray it in a negative light. The documentary, Under the Gun, showed members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League sitting in an extended, awkward silence in response to a question from Couric about gun purchases. But audio of the interview provided to the Washington Free Beacon revealed that the group members promptly responded to Couric’s question. Couric and the filmmakers defended their deception in statements to the Washington Post.

Couric’s handling of the Ginsburg interview could call into question her credentials for serving on the Aspen Institute Commission on Information Disorder. The commission, for which England’s Prince Harry serves as a vice chairman, says that disinformation has caused a “modern-day crisis of faith in key institutions.”

Tech billionaire Craig Newmark funds the Aspen commission. Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, funded a New York University study published earlier this year that said without evidence that emails from Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop were “stolen material.” The study also said that Twitter and Facebook made “reasonable” decisions to block links to articles in the New York Post about Biden’s emails.