Katie Couric privately believes a controversial edit in her documentary on gun violence was an avoidable blunder.
The Wrapreports that an "individual with knowledge of Couric's thinking" says she believes the edit was "an unnecessary mistake."
Media critics have savaged Couric's documentary
"Under the Gun" for a scene in which Couric asks members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, "If there are no background checks for gun purchasers, how do you prevent felons or terrorists from purchasing a gun?"
Her question appears to be received by blank stares and a silence of eight seconds — but an audio clip obtained by conservative site
AmmoLand appears to reveal there was no pause and the crowd responded to immediately.
Couric has said she supports director Stephanie Soechtig, who insists the pause was inserted for viewers to "have a moment to consider this important question before presenting the facts on Americans' opinions on background checks. I never intended to make anyone look bad and I apologize if anyone felt that way."
But The Wrap's source said Friday:
"It did not represent editing someone's sentences, there was no factual error, this is not a mistake that is a substantive mistake. It could have been avoided. This was a poor decision that was made and it involves silence."
During a recent
National Rifle Association meeting, the group's executive vice president Wayne LaPierre slammed "Hollywood media elites" as the chief culprits of gun violence for dousing "our kids with reckless, gratuitous, irresponsible gun play." Couric was added to the list for her documentary.
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