You defined it one way, GreyIce defined it differently. I'm still not sure who is right, although GrayIce's definition seems a lot more concrete.
It doesn't matter how you, I, or GreyIce defines it, it matters how the newscaster personally defines it, which gives it context. If he or she meant an insult, certainly it's an insult. If it's a regional insult it may be known to that region but not others. Here, if you told someone she was a common girl, it would be an insult. Insult on the word "common" which has come to mean low class with women. However, a common man is not an insult at all, it means a "man of the people."
I think perhaps some jumped to conclusions on this before they looked into the wide abyss of interpretation.