Milwaukee radio station under fire for removing parts of Biden's interview at his campaign's request

MADISON, WISCONSIN: A progressive radio network in Wisconsin claimed to have violated "journalistic interview standards" last week when it altered two parts of an interview with President Joe Biden at the request of his campaign.

In a statement made public on Thursday, July 11, Civic Media acknowledged that the Biden campaign "called and asked for two edits to the recording before it aired" following a July 3 interview with host Earl Ingram. Two short segments of the interview were cut before it aired the next day, one of which featured Biden making an inaccurate statement regarding the "Central Park Five" case.

What did the network say?

"On Monday, July 8, 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," the network said, as per Fox News.

"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 network added.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel was the first to report that the station had uploaded the two edited segments as well as the entire, unedited interview.

"Given the gravity of the current political moment, the stakes in this election, and the importance of public scrutiny of public officials in the highest office, we believe it is important to share this information," the station said, later adding, "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."

The first edit came at five minutes and 20 seconds into the 18-minute interview

According to the station, the first edit came at five minutes and 20 seconds into the 18-minute interview, removing Biden saying, "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 deleted passage appeared as he was bragging about his track record of diversity in his administration and nominations, including the appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.

The second edit came at 14 minutes and 15 seconds

At 14 minutes and 15 seconds in, the second edit showed him mocking former President Donald Trump's 1989 call for the death penalty for the "Central Park Five," a group of Black and Latino youths who were wrongfully convicted of raping a New York jogger.

"He's falsely accused the Central Park Five, those guys who were arrested, he said they should all be convicted," Biden said. He went on to say in the short portion that was excised, "I don’t know if they even call for their hanging or not, but he, but they said convicted of murder," he said.

The victim in the infamous Central Park case survived the brutal assault

On the other hand, the victim in the notorious Central Park case lived to witness the vicious attack. The campaign seemed to be trying to take back Biden's embarrassing admission that he believed she had died. A Biden campaign spokesperson told Fox News, "Hosts have always been free to ask the questions and air the segments they think will best inform their listeners."

Civic Media scolded the show for agreeing to the changes

Civic Media scolded the show for agreeing to the changes but said it "unequivocally stands by Earl Ingram and his team."

"Earl is an invaluable voice for Milwaukee and Wisconsin, and remains a crucial member of the Civic Media organization," the station said, adding "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."

Ingram, a Biden supporter, was one of two radio hosts last week that received suggested questions from the Biden campaign for the interviews. Another, Andrea Lawful-Sanders of WURD in Philadelphia, parted ways with her station after the revelation. 

"The interviews were scheduled in an effort to reassure voters of the president's abilities. But the revelation that both hosts were given questions ahead of time has raised doubts about the confidence the president has in navigating unscripted conversations," the Journal-Sentinel reported.

Ingram confirmed that he was given five questions to ask Joe Biden 

Ingram acknowledged in statements to ABC News that he was given five questions to ask Biden during their conversation but was unable to finish them all before the interview ended.

The interviews followed Biden's vicious debate performance from last month, which cast severe doubt on his ability to defeat Trump among Democrats. Despite growing pressure from Democratic lawmakers and media allies to withdraw, Biden has consistently stated he is staying in the race.

Internet slams the Wisconsin radio network for violatimg journalistic standards

Netizens lashed out at the radio network with one tweeting, "They also fed him preapproved questions. The gold standard of journalism." Another said, "Why was this not disclosed before the broadcast? This violates journalism ethics." "Someone is about to lose their job," added one user. 

"That is election interference pure and simple, it’s an FCC violation, let’s see if they are going to do their jobs," remarked someone else. 

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.