In a recent revelation that has sent shockwaves through the media landscape, a local radio station has admitted to editing an interview with President Joe Biden, a move that has raised eyebrows and questions about journalistic integrity.
The interview, conducted post the contentious debate with Donald Trump, was intended to reassure the public of Biden's readiness for another term, amidst swirling doubts about his mental fitness.
According to Mediaite, Earl Ingram, the host of Civic Media, had previously disclosed that he was "given some questions for Biden" prior to the interview. "I didn't get a chance to ask him all the things I wanted to ask," Ingram confessed during a conversation with ABC News over the weekend.
Civic Media, in a statement, confirmed that the interview, recorded on July 3rd and aired on the 4th, was indeed edited. "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 disclosed.
The two excised segments included a claim by Biden at the 5:20 mark about having "more Blacks in my administration than any other president, all other presidents combined, and in major positions, cabinet positions." The second, at the 14:15 mark, pertained to Donald Trump's call for the death penalty for the Central Park Five, with the removal of "I don't know if they even call for their hanging or not, but hebut they said [] convicted of murder."
In a self-critical assessment, Civic Media acknowledged that the decision to make the edits fell short of its own journalistic standards. "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 teams judgments in the moment, both with respect to the handling of the interview questions and the decision to edit the interview audio," the statement concluded.
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