Couric defends editing of RBG interview

Veteran journalist Katie Couric defended her decision to leave out portions of a quote from the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg from a story she published in 2016. 

In the article for Yahoo News, Couric quotes Ginsburg as saying racial justice protests during the national anthem before football games are “dumb and disrespectful.” But Couric, in her book titled “Going There,” reportedly reveals that she omitted Ginsburg’s full quote in an attempt to “protect” the late justice from criticism of controversial remarks. 

Ginsburg also said during her interview with Couric that the protests displayed “contempt for a government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life.” 

“Ultimately, I think I should have included it,” Couric said during an appearance Tuesday on “Today,” the NBC morning program she anchored for more than a decade. “But I also think it’s really important to look at what I did include. She had to make a statement afterwards saying her comments were harsh and dismissive.”

Couric said she wished she had asked a follow-up question to clarify or had “just run it and let her clarify it later.” 

“But I think the most pertinent and direct response to the question about Colin Kaepernick I included, and that’s why I raised it because maybe I should have done the other sentence, as well,” she said. 

The liberal justice’s remarks, specifically the line about the protests showing “contempt” for the government, was “subject to interpretation,” Couric said. 

“I mentioned that it was a conundrum that I asked Justice Ginsburg about Colin Kaepernick and taking a knee and how she felt about that,” she added. “And I did include the fact that she said it was dumb and disrespectful, it was stupid and arrogant and quite a bit of what she said.”

Couric’s memoir is slated to publish later this month.