A Milwaukee radio station has sparked controversy by admitting it edited an interview with President Joe Biden at his campaign's request, raising questions about journalistic integrity and transparency.
A Milwaukee radio station acknowledged on Thursday that it edited an interview with President Joe Biden at the request of his campaign, admitting that this action did not meet "journalistic interview standards."
After a challenging debate with former President Donald Trump last month, Biden participated in an interview with Earl Ingram, a popular host on Civic Media, a Wisconsin-based talk-radio network. It was later reported that the Biden campaign requested specific edits to the interview, which the station complied with.
In a statement released on Thursday, the station explained:
"On Monday, July 8th, it was reported to Civic Media management that immediately after the phone interview was recorded, the Biden campaign called and asked for two edits to the recording before it aired. Civic Media management immediately undertook an investigation and determined that the production team at the time viewed the edits as non-substantive and broadcast and published the interview with two short segments removed.” The station committed to releasing the full, unedited interview online. The edits included Biden claiming he had “more Blacks in my administration than any other president” and another where he appeared incoherent while discussing former President Trump’s call for the death penalty for the Central Park Five.
“I don’t know if they even call for their hanging or not, but he—but they said […] convicted of murder,” Biden said.
The statement continued, “With a high-profile interview comes a listener expectation that journalistic interview standards will be applied, even for non-news programming. We did not meet those expectations. Civic Media disagrees with the team’s judgments in the moment, both with respect to the handling of the interview questions and the decision to edit the interview audio.”
The station further clarified its policies, especially for commentators and non-news personnel.
“Civic Media unequivocally stands by Earl Ingram and his team,” the statement added. “Earl is an invaluable voice for Milwaukee and Wisconsin and remains a crucial member of the Civic Media organization. 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 has been a learning experience, and we will do better moving forward.”
Recently, an NPR report highlighted that a Philadelphia-based radio host “parted ways with her station after interviewing President Biden with questions provided by his campaign, a move prohibited by many newsrooms, including her own.”
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