A Milwaukee radio station admitted on Thursday that it had edited a pre-recorded interview with President Joe Biden – at his campaign’s request – to remove statements about the number of “blacks” in his administration and his comments on the Central Park Five case. Civic Media, the network broadcasting the 81-year-old president’s July 3 interview on “The Earl Ingram Show”, stated that the decision by the program to delete these remarks fell short of “journalistic interview standards.
Approximately five minutes into the 18-minute interview, Biden made a claim about his administration stating. and in addition to that, I have more blacks in my administration than any other president, all other presidents combined, and in major positions, cabinet positions.” The second cut, around 14 minutes in, referred to former President Donald Trump’s call for the death penalty for five New York teenagers wrongfully convicted of assaulting a Central Park jogger in 1989.
Civic Media announced an investigation upon learning on July 8 that the Biden campaign had called and requested Ingraham’s production team to make these edits, with Ingraham’s team viewing the edits as “non-substantive” and complying. The radio station released the entire unedited interview of Biden’s phone conversation with Ingram on Thursday, citing transparency and the importance of the political moment.
In a statement, the network said that while they disagreed with the decision to make the edits, they stood by their team and referred to this as a “learning experience”, pledging to do better moving forward. Ingram revealed last weekend that he was fed questions from the Biden campaign to ask the president ahead of the interview and chose to use them.
A Philadelphia radio station cut ties with former host Andrea Lawful-Sanders on Sunday after she admitted to asking Biden questions supplied by his team. This revelation has sparked a broader conversation about media integrity, particularly in regard to political interviews, and the responsibilities of both hosts and their guests to uphold journalistic standards.