Katie Couric Decries Pentagon Media Shake Up Despite Her Own Repeated Scandals

Katie Couric recently criticized the Pentagon’s decision to give office space to conservative media outlets, asserting that it would lead to the rise of “propaganda.” In a tweet on February 1, Couric expressed her dismay, stating, “Wow. This is how news becomes propaganda. It’s begun. Pay attention.” However, Couric’s accusation appears to ignore her own history of controversial editorial decisions and deceptive edits, which have prompted similar accusations of propaganda in her own career.

The Pentagon’s move to rotate legacy media out of office space and make room for more conservative outlets has sparked controversy, especially among figures like Couric, who have long been associated with mainstream media. Couric’s concern over the shifting landscape of American media echoed a broader fear expressed by legacy media for news to become “biased” or “manipulated,” ignoring the growing public opinion that legacy media itself is biased and manipulated. Yet, her own past actions—particularly her involvement in documentaries that were accused of deceptive editing—raise questions about her credibility when it comes to the ethics of journalism and media representation.

In 2016, Couric was at the center of a scandal surrounding her documentary Under The Gun, which focused on gun violence and gun rights in the United States. During an interview with the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL), Couric asked a seemingly innocuous question about background checks for gun purchases. The documentary depicted the interviewees as speechless and unresponsive, but the group later claimed that this exchange was misleadingly edited.

The VCDL sued Couric and the filmmakers, alleging that the documentary falsely portrayed them as unable to answer a straightforward question. In unedited footage, the VCDL members responded to Couric’s query for nearly six minutes. The lawsuit claimed that the documentary’s edit—a nine-second silence—was deceptive and misrepresented the VCDL’s position on background checks. Couric, who was an executive producer on the film, issued a public apology, stating, “I regret that those eight seconds were misleading and that I did not raise my initial concerns more vigorously.” Some believed that her emphasis on the “eight seconds” and her insistence that she had previously raised concerns was meant to downplay the seriousness of the situation.

She also co-produced Fed Up, a documentary about the food industry. In this case, Dr. David Allison, a researcher who was interviewed for the film, accused Couric and the filmmakers of editing his responses in a misleading way. During the interview, Allison asked to pause and gather his thoughts, but the final edit made it appear as though he was speechless in response to Couric’s question. He told the Washington Free Beacon that this selective editing misrepresented his views and created a false narrative.

This further deepened the questions about Couric’s editorial integrity and how her work was shaped to fit a narrative.

Even Couric’s interview with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2016 was tainted by controversy. In her 2021 memoir, Going There, Couric admitted to cutting a portion of the interview where Ginsburg expressed criticism of athletes who knelt during the national anthem, including NFL player Colin Kaepernick. The late justice called the protest disrespectful, suggesting that it showed “contempt for a government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life.”

Couric’s career also faced scrutiny in 2007 over a plagiarism scandal. CBS News revealed that a segment of Couric’s Katie Couric’s Notebook video essay series had plagiarized a column from The Wall Street Journal. While CBS maintained that Couric was unaware of the plagiarism and fired the producer responsible for it, the incident nevertheless raised questions about Couric’s editorial practices and accountability.

Katie Couric’s recent criticism of the Pentagon’s decision to offer office space to conservative outlets rings hollow in light of her own history with deceptive editing and misleading journalism. While Couric has accused conservative outlets of potentially spreading propaganda, her own career has been marked by numerous incidents where her editorial choices were called into question, and her content was accused of distorting the truth to serve specific narratives.

Moreover, Couric’s accusations may fall flat when considering the legacy media’s failure to cover serious issues such as President Joe Biden’s mental decline during a time when it was highly relevant. Mainstream outlets, including those Couric was once associated with, largely avoided in-depth reporting on Biden’s cognitive health, despite growing public concern and frequency of verbal gaffes or disoriented behavior. In this context, Couric’s focus on the Pentagon’s decision to offer space to conservative outlets could seem like a convenient distraction from the establishment media’s own shortcomings in holding those in power accountable, calling into question the credibility of those now decrying supposed “propaganda” from alternative outlets.

READ NEXT: Katie Couric Rips Kamala Harris For Media Strategy