Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

CBS News' Katie Couric Labels Pro-Life View on Abortion "Repugnant" (Media Bias Alert!)
LifeNews ^ | October 5, 2006 | Steven Ertelt

Posted on 10/08/2006 5:54:35 AM PDT by NYer

New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- CBS News' main anchor Katie Couric is coming under fire for saying some viewers may consider the pro-life views of a recent guest "repugnant." Her statement came after a father of a victim of the Columbine shootings, responding to the recent shooting at an Amish school, said abortion has cheapened people's view of life.

As part of its new evening news format, which Couric hosts, CBS News features a "free speech" segment which allows a wide range of people to comment on issues and headlines of the day.

CBS News featured Denver resident Brian Rohrbough, whose 15-year-old son Daniel was killed in the Columbine massacre. In his interview, aired nationally on the program, Rohrbough said abortion has caused a dimmer view of the sanctity of human life.

"I am saddened and shaken by the shooting at an Amish school today and last week's school murders," Rohrbough said. "When my son Dan was murdered on the sidewalk at Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999, I hoped that would be the last school shooting."

"Since that day, I tried to answer the question why did this happen?" Rohrbough added.

"This country is in a moral free fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum," he explained. "We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you, the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion."

"Abortion has diminished the value of children," Rohrbough, who is a member of the board of directors of Colorado Right to Life, said.

Reacting to criticism from abortion advocates that he appeared on the show, Couric, on her Internet blog, wrote, "We knew when we decided to put on this segment that a lot of people would disagree with it. We also knew some might even find it repugnant."

In an op-ed responding to Couric, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly criticized her remarks.

"Repugnant? Why would any fair-minded person find Mr. Rohrbough's opinion repugnant?" O'Reilly asked. "You can disagree with the man, but using a word like "repugnant" marginalizes his legitimate opinion. Millions of Americans see it the way Mr. Rohrbough does."

"Now I don't believe Ms. Couric meant to demean the man, but her words reflect the elitist attitude common in network news and in the general media," O'Reilly added. "Using the word 'repugnant' might restore Ms. Couric's cocktail party credibility, but it is an unfortunate choice of words."

Rohrbough has been attacked on the left-wing blogs and on the CBS News Web site.

"I do applaud CBS News for giving Mr. Rohrbough a platform, but everyone can see how uncomfortable it has made the network. That should not be the case," O'Reilly said.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events; Philosophy; US: Colorado; US: New York
KEYWORDS: abortion; colombine; couric; cultureofdeath; prolife; somesay
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-5051-74 next last

1 posted on 10/08/2006 5:54:37 AM PDT by NYer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Lady In Blue; Salvation; narses; SMEDLEYBUTLER; redhead; Notwithstanding; nickcarraway; Romulus; ...
Catholic Ping List
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list


2 posted on 10/08/2006 5:55:28 AM PDT by NYer ("It is easier for the earth to exist without sun than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.” PPio)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer
We know what is in her heart.

But technically speaking, the article headline is not correct as it does not conform to the article. She had said (even if it were cleverness on her part), that 'even some people might find it repugnant.' She did not call it repugnant herself which is the exact title of the article. I am not playing devil's advocate. I am just commenting on the journalism here. Again, certainly this is her view, but she herself did not directly say that, only insinuated. Hence here clever nature.

3 posted on 10/08/2006 5:57:38 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (..is an American allright, but is not in Japan, folks. Thanks for letting me keep the moniker.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

One of the things I despise about the left is their lack of intellectual honesty. This author is intellectually dishonest and needs to change the title, which is misleading.


4 posted on 10/08/2006 5:58:31 AM PDT by Flightdeck
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer
"some viewers may consider...", "critics say...", "some people have said..."

All words used to allow the injection of their own opinion into the news. Nothing new.

5 posted on 10/08/2006 6:00:16 AM PDT by rhombus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer
You know... repugnent... as in Hitler found it repugnent when criticized of his plans to enslave/exterminate the 'untermensch'.
6 posted on 10/08/2006 6:01:58 AM PDT by johnny7 (“And what's Fonzie like? Come on Yolanda... what's Fonzie like?!”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Katie watch

Doogle

7 posted on 10/08/2006 6:03:05 AM PDT by Doogle (USAF 69-73...."never store a threat you should have eliminated")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Amazingly I've never watched the woman.


8 posted on 10/08/2006 6:07:45 AM PDT by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AmericanInTokyo

What heart ?


9 posted on 10/08/2006 6:08:09 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Cheney X -- Destroying the Liberal Democrat Traitors By Any Means Necessary -- Ya Dig ? Sho 'Nuff.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Flightdeck

I would say some viewers may find Katie repugnant. I don't have to hide behind some viewers and may though. I find Katie repugnant I will never watch her show.


10 posted on 10/08/2006 6:08:21 AM PDT by YdontUleaveLibs
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: NYer
Strangely enough, I often find Ms. Couric repugnant!
11 posted on 10/08/2006 6:09:29 AM PDT by Aussie Dasher (The Great Ronald Reagan & John Paul II - Heaven's Dream Team!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

The drive-by-media must be in a dither over this one....on one hand, this is a man they could use to their advantage, as an anit-gun poster child....however, now they find out he is pro-life!! And blaming the schools! and society! not the NRA for his son'd death!! Poor Lame stream media....


12 posted on 10/08/2006 6:11:42 AM PDT by SAMS (Nobody loves a soldier until the enemy is at the gate; Army Wife & Marine Mom)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

>>"We knew when we decided to put on this segment that a lot of people would disagree with it. We also knew some might even find it repugnant."<<

Way to go minimalizing the man grief, Katie you crud.


13 posted on 10/08/2006 6:11:55 AM PDT by netmilsmom (To attack one section of Christianity in this day and age, is to waste time.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher

The very thought of her is repugnant to me.


14 posted on 10/08/2006 6:12:47 AM PDT by Rider on the Rain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Sometimes, I feel badly that courics mom was pro-life.


15 posted on 10/08/2006 6:13:49 AM PDT by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like what you say))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: muawiyah
Other than a couple of times years ago, I have never watched her either I am happy to say. After she had been on the evening news for several weeks. I watched her just because I wanted to see how she looked, hair, makeup, clothes, demeanor, etc. you know, girl stuff.

She looked stiff and uncomfortable, pale and lifeless. Her new job doesn't seem to be agreeing with her.
16 posted on 10/08/2006 6:16:28 AM PDT by Ditter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Couric's ratings are not low enough.

She needs to be at the "statistical zero" mark. IOW the same ratings as a test pattern.


17 posted on 10/08/2006 6:22:02 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer
Katie (Botox) Couric is a birdbrain.

Repugnant = the report my niece passed on to us this weekend. She's a 3rd year nursing student. One of her clinicals is at a clinic which deals with teens and women who have recently had abortions. The teens are despondent. She advised these 14 year olds to talk to their moms. Unfortunately, they are unable to do that because their moms do not know that they had abortions.

The other 3 women were seriously depressed - 21 - 25 - 34.

According to my niece the aftermath of these abortions is devastation. That is repugnant.

Also repugnant: As of 2006, eight medical organizations recognize that abortion raises a woman's risk for breast cancer, independently of the risk of delaying the birth of a first child (a secondary effect that all experts already acknowledge). An additional medical organization, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, issued a statement in 2003 calling on doctors to inform patients about a "highly plausible" relationship between abortion and breast cancer. General counsel for that medical group wrote an article for its journal warning doctors that three women (two Americans, one Australian) successfully sued their abortion providers for neglecting to disclose the risks of breast cancer and emotional harm, although none of the women had developed the disease. more

18 posted on 10/08/2006 6:22:53 AM PDT by xtinct (I was the next door neighbor kid's imaginary friend.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Doogle

Doogle, that's goooooood.


19 posted on 10/08/2006 6:26:31 AM PDT by krunkygirl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: longtermmemmory
You want repugnant?

I'll give you stinkin' repugnant.

AVERT YOUR EYES!

AVERT YOUR EYES!

AGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH, MY EYES!!!

NOW THAT'S REPUGANT!


20 posted on 10/08/2006 6:30:40 AM PDT by Stallone (Dealing with Democrats IS the War on Terror.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: NYer

I can't believe Dan Rather would say such a thing.


21 posted on 10/08/2006 6:31:03 AM PDT by Brilliant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Stallone

You know - I have to agree - I find Katie repugnant, but it's not her looks - it's the way she interviews.

Having said that, I thought this guy's comments were inappropriate. Five little girls murdered in front of their classmates, and he goes off on a tangent about abortion. I thought his speech was irrelevant and in very poor taste.


22 posted on 10/08/2006 6:35:00 AM PDT by Air Force Brat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Repugnant! If anything is repugnant, it is the leftist bias at CBS News.


23 posted on 10/08/2006 6:39:52 AM PDT by reg45
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Flightdeck

Speaking of intellectual dishonesty, if the womens' movement were consistent, it would want to protect the lives of women in the womb.


24 posted on 10/08/2006 6:40:34 AM PDT by RoadTest (Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set. -Proverbs 22:28)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Flightdeck
One of the things I despise about the left is their lack of intellectual honesty.

Might be worse than that - the MSM thinks we are not intelligent.

That said, most people pick up a paper, scan the headlines and put it down. The headlines are good propoganda tools.

25 posted on 10/08/2006 6:46:07 AM PDT by IamConservative (A mans true character is revealed in what he does when no one is watching.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: NYer

then she should apologize to her children for giving birth.


26 posted on 10/08/2006 6:47:22 AM PDT by television is just wrong (our sympathies are misguided with illegal aliens...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Air Force Brat
The man's comment about abortion was part of an overall concern he was expressing about what he called a moral free fall in this country. The entire focus on abortion came from complaints from pro-abortion people.

And when all the dots are connected, Katie Couric expresses concern that people may find his comments repugnant.

I read all of the man's words, and saw a replay, and I disagree with your comments. I don't think what he said was irrelevant or in poor taste.

27 posted on 10/08/2006 6:48:29 AM PDT by Bernard (Democrats are willing to defend terrorists' rights over your dead body.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: longtermmemmory; NYer
She needs to be at the "statistical zero" mark. IOW the same ratings as a test pattern.

But test patterns convey useful information. Limited but still usefull. I think her ratings need to fall to that of random noise

28 posted on 10/08/2006 6:53:30 AM PDT by Paleo Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: xtinct
One of her clinicals is at a clinic which deals with teens and women who have recently had abortions. The teens are despondent.

I wonder if there is any corelation with suicide rates and abortion rates. I've heard that both have been falling lately.

29 posted on 10/08/2006 7:01:23 AM PDT by Dan Evans
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: AmericanInTokyo
He said... "This country is in a moral free fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum," he explained. "We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you, the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion."

So Katie said...

"We knew when we decided to put on this segment that a lot of people would disagree with it. We also knew some might even find it repugnant."

Now, let's try a thought experiment, what if he had said...

"This country is in a moral free fall." he explained. "We teach that guns are a Constitutional privilege , but I assure you, the death of innocent children by gun fire is endemic in America; meanwhile some of us put our heads in the sand and quote the second amendment "

Would Katie have then said...?

"We knew when we decided to put on this segment that a lot of people would disagree with it. We also knew some might even find it repugnant."

Sure, and cats swim seas and pigs climb trees.
30 posted on 10/08/2006 7:05:57 AM PDT by the final gentleman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: rhombus
All words used to allow the injection of their own opinion into the news. Nothing new.

Exactly! And "unnamed sources" too.

31 posted on 10/08/2006 7:14:27 AM PDT by libertylover (If it's good and decent, you can be sure the Democrat Party leaders are against it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: NYer

The Saturday Night Live news said Katie, the third place loser, had a new nic name. ...... Dan Rather.


32 posted on 10/08/2006 7:15:53 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. Foley is why we don't allow queers to be Scoutmasters.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: muawiyah
"Amazingly I've never watched the woman." Not so amazing, neither have I. I would have a hard time even recognizing her, as well as most of the other annointed media elites. And yes, I'm proud of myself .
33 posted on 10/08/2006 7:23:13 AM PDT by EyeGuy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: AmericanInTokyo

Well, aside from our despisiing Katie Al Couric, she is absolutely right. Some do find pro life views repugnant,,she didn't invent it. She however would never say "some find abortion repugnant".

Katie is not the brightest bulb. She should have left it at "people disagree on whether abortion influences the current killings in school".

But to be fair to the bimbo, she is right.


34 posted on 10/08/2006 7:24:08 AM PDT by cajungirl (no)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Calling Couric a journalist is "repugnant"... Shes a news reader of liberal left wing news writers..


35 posted on 10/08/2006 7:29:45 AM PDT by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

seeing the inside of her colon at breakfast-time is repugnant


36 posted on 10/08/2006 8:22:41 AM PDT by NeoconSuperhawk_from_MySpace (Christians are DONE sitting at the back of the bus.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freeangel
"Sometimes, I feel badly that courics mom was pro-life."

Perhaps at the time, Katie's mother thought that abortions were repugnant.

37 posted on 10/08/2006 8:24:19 AM PDT by Enterprise (Let's not enforce laws that are already on the books, let's just write new laws we won't enforce.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Ditter
"She looked stiff and uncomfortable, pale and lifeless."

Perhaps "repugnant" is the word you are looking for.

38 posted on 10/08/2006 8:25:47 AM PDT by Enterprise (Let's not enforce laws that are already on the books, let's just write new laws we won't enforce.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: rhombus

Couric often uses this devise. Invariably "Some people" includes herself.


39 posted on 10/08/2006 8:29:17 AM PDT by RobbyS ( CHIRHO)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Enterprise

Yeah, "repugnant" works for me. LOL!


40 posted on 10/08/2006 8:36:10 AM PDT by Ditter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Ha! This from a woman who put her own colonoscopy exam on the air. Now that was repugnant.


41 posted on 10/08/2006 8:42:10 AM PDT by DonGrafico (Gowd demmit bub! You ain't from around heah ah ya?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Women who use knee pads don't have to worry about having babies.


42 posted on 10/08/2006 8:42:49 AM PDT by chiefqc
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AmericanInTokyo

Leftist journalists love to find "Jason Blair" type sources to speak FOR them, to say the things that they (as impartial observers) could never editorialize.

Some headline writers scour for DNC talking points and use the headlines to slam Republicans in "news" articles. An example of such a headline would be "Republicans are party of no ethics" (note the quotes). Just because "someone else" said it, does not mean that the journalist does not agree wholeheartedly.

Some barking moonbats think it is "perverted" that kids are not instructed to have sex from age 3 up (see the Sex Positive agenda) and denounce abstinence as "unhealthy" because it is a supression of sexual desires. I never see the media "acknowledge" this worldview that "some people" find abstinence repugnant (the common talking point instead is that "it doesn't work").

Since not all worldviews are covered, I'd have to say that Axis Katie delibertely mentioned those people who'd find it repugnant because of similar ideology at work. Why not mention those who find the gun grabbers' efforts to push for tighter gun control in the wake of such incidents to be "repugnant"?


43 posted on 10/08/2006 9:01:03 AM PDT by weegee (Remember "Remember the Maine"? Well in the current war "Remember the Baby Milk Factory")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: AmericanInTokyo

But she *is* a fervent member of the Leftist
Lemming Culture of Death.


44 posted on 10/08/2006 9:08:28 AM PDT by NickatNite2003
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Typical dinosaur. Watch their ratings plummet even more...


45 posted on 10/08/2006 9:25:37 AM PDT by Heartofsong83
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer
Repugnant??!

What I find repugnant is the procedure of an abortion, something which I won't even describe. How someone can look at one and say "pro-life=bad, abortion=good" is beyond me.

46 posted on 10/08/2006 9:41:47 AM PDT by my_pointy_head_is_sharp (Pornography kills - a man's soul, a woman's spirit, a child's body.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Guess how long The Perky One was lying in wait to demean pro-lifers? Couric was fed at the teat of baby-killing. To her it's no big deal.........Couric's mother worked for the architects of legalized abortion---and the largest operators of abortoreums in the US----Planned Parenthood.


47 posted on 10/08/2006 9:45:45 AM PDT by Liz (The US Constitution is intended to protect the people from the government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Saying that killing unborn babies is repugnant? Very interesting.


48 posted on 10/08/2006 12:09:22 PM PDT by LiteKeeper (Beware the secularization of America; the Islamization of Eurabia)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Did she lose weight?
It must be the new Katie Couric/Photoshop Diet.
Leaves Atkins behind.

49 posted on 10/08/2006 12:23:33 PM PDT by Bon mots
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

We also knew some might even find it repugnant."


She didn't say she agreed with it just that some people might agree with it. I think we are stretching this story just like the democratic party does because we can't stand Katie. Please let us not become the liberal media and start stretching the truth or adding context that is not there just to please ourselves.


50 posted on 10/08/2006 12:30:52 PM PDT by napscoordinator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-5051-74 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson