When Will the Media Be Held Responsible for Lies About Guns?

Conservatives have become used to the bias the mainstream media engages in on a daily basis. It has been going on for nearly a generation. The mainstream media, despite having the evidence shoved in its face, will deny it over and over again. Conservatives continue to make sure they point it out, but accept it is simply a reality that has to be dealt with.

There are times, however, when the media is not only biased but outright deceptive. That point was driven home earlier this week when Katie Couric and filmmakers of a documentary she executively produced fabricated a sequence in the film. From the Free Beacon:

The makers of a new Katie Couric documentary on gun violence deceptively edited an interview between Couric and a group of gun rights activists in an apparent attempt to embarrass the activists, an audio recording of the full interview shows.

At the 21:48 mark of Under the Gun a scene of Katie Couric interviewing members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun rights organization, is shown.

Couric can be heard in the interview asking activists from 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?”

The documentary then shows the activists sitting silently for nine awkward seconds, unable to provide an answer. It then cuts to the next scene.

The reality, it appears, was far different.

However, raw audio of the interview between Katie Couric and the activists provided to the Washington Free Beacon shows the scene was deceptively edited. Instead of silence, Couric’s question is met immediately with answers from the activists. A back and forth between a number of the league’s members and Couric over the issue of background checks proceeds for more than four minutes after the original question is asked.

Here is the video in question. Watch as the activists look almost embarrassed they don’t have an answer to her question.

There is a word to describe this kind of deception: Disgraceful.

The filmmakers’ lame excuse that they had no “intent” to deceive anybody has been met with the derision it deserves. There is no doubt they were attempting to make people who support the Second Amendment look completely idiotic, giving weight to the stereotype of gun owners as goofball hicks who just want to shoot their guns all day, every day.

Media deception is also evident in how interviewers will allow politicians to make some of the most outrageous claims without any pushback whatsoever. President Obama made two claims about guns that defy reality. First, he alleged that it’s easier to buy a gun than a vegetable. Then he said it was easier to purchase a gun than it was to buy a book.

Is there anybody in the media who truly believes it is more difficult to buy a tomato or a Harry Potter book than it is a Beretta?

Another lie the media happily parrots without consequence is that “40% of all guns are purchased without a background check.” This is an egregious lie that the mainstream media never bothers to fact check. The number is based on a self-reporting survey, not an investigation, most of which was conducted before the federal background-check system went into place.

Lately, one of the oft-repeated claims about firearms is the bogus accusation regarding the purchase of guns over the internet. President Obama routinely uses this line. In fact, it’s been tweeted by the White House account:

In reality, any purchase of a firearm made on the internet, in order for it to be legal, must be shipped to a federally licensed firearms’ dealer where the purchaser then has to undergo the necessary background check. If the individual is cleared, the transaction is complete.

The media is supposed to be the check against government officials who lie to the public — not an accomplice. When untruths about firearms are told and the media merely repeats them, the information is fed into the public and before too long the false statements are repeated until they become routine factoids.

Katie Couric and the others involved with this “documentary” really need to be held to account. The public statements they have issued thus far are not enough. There needs to be a correction made in the film, an apology issued and a complete mea culpa as to their intent. Until that happens, the backlash against them and the film should continue. (For more from the author of “When Will the Media Be Held Responsible for Lies About Guns?” please click HERE)

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