A progressive radio station in Wisconsin said it twice edited an interview with President Biden last week at the request of the campaign, which the station acknowledged violated “journalistic interviewing standards.”
Citizen Media released a statement on Thursday After host Earl Ingram interviewed Biden on July 3, the Biden campaign “called to edit the recording twice before it aired,” the outlet confirmed. The interview aired the next day with two short segments removed, including one in which Biden falsely described the “Central Park Five” incident.
“On Monday, July 8, Civic Media management received a call from the Biden campaign shortly after the phone interview was recorded, reporting that they had requested that the recording be edited twice before it was aired,” the network said. “Civic Media management immediately investigated, and the production team at the time determined the edits were insignificant and aired and made the interview public with the two brief segments removed.”
The station ran two edited portions and the complete, unedited interview, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. First reported.
Trump mobilizes prominent black Republicans to appeal to their peers: “Fish where the fish are”
President Joe Biden walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington upon returning from a trip to Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 7. (AP/Susan Walsh)
“Given the gravity of the current political situation, the importance of this election, and the importance of public scrutiny of our highest-ranking public officials, we believe it is important to share this information,” the network said, adding: “High-profile interviews carry with them listeners’ expectations that journalistic interview standards will be applied, even in non-news programming. We failed to meet those expectations.”
The network said the first edit came at 5 minutes and 20 seconds into the 18-minute interview, removing a comment from Biden that “in addition, my administration has more Black people in key positions and cabinet roles than any other president combined.”
The deleted portion came at a time when the president was boasting about his record of diversity in his administration and appointments, including the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
The second edit came at the 14 minute, 15 second mark, when he sharply criticized former President Trump’s call for the death penalty for the “Central Park Five,” a group of black and Latino teenagers wrongfully convicted in 1989 of raping a New York jogger.
“He falsely accused the Central Park Five and said all of the men who were arrested should be found guilty,” Biden said, adding in a deleted passage, “I don’t know if they want to be hanged, but he said they are guilty of murder.”
Black Republicans slam Biden’s “record on race” in six-figure ad buy to air during CNN debate
A Biden campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “Our hosts have always felt free to ask questions and air the segments they believe will be most helpful to our listeners.” (Screenshot of Joe Biden from MSNBC)
But the victim of the infamous Central Park massacre survived the brutal assault, and the campaign seemed keen to remove Biden’s gaffe that he thought the victim had been murdered.
A Biden campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “Our hosts have always felt free to ask questions and air the segments they believe will be most helpful to our listeners.”
Civic Media criticised the show for agreeing to the changes but said it “firmly supports Earl Ingram and his team”.
“Earl is an invaluable voice for Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin and remains a valued member of the Civic Media organization,” the station said. “The decision to make the requested edits to the interview was made in good faith. While we disagree with the decision, we stand by our team. This is a learning experience and we will do better going forward.”
Ingraham, a Biden supporter, was one of two radio hosts who received suggested questions for interviews from the Biden campaign last week. The other, Andrea Lawfull Sanders of WURD in Philadelphia, parted ways with her radio station after the revelations.
Radio host Andrea Lawfull Sanders said on CNN that the Biden campaign sent her questions ahead of the interview. (Screenshot/CNN)
Click here to get the FOX News app
“The interview was designed to reassure voters of the president’s competence, but the revelation that the two hosts had been given pre-written questions raised doubts about the president’s confidence in his ability to navigate an unscripted conversation,” the Journal Sentinel reported.
The statement said: Provided to ABC NewsIngraham acknowledged that Biden was posed five questions to her during the conversation, but she wasn’t able to answer all of them by the end of the interview.
This is breaking news, please check back for the latest updates.
