Radio Station Says Biden Campaign Pressured It Into Editing Biden Interview After He Used The Term ‘Blacks’

A Milwaukee radio station agreed to edit a radio interview with President Joe Biden after he used the term “blacks,” according to a statement from Civic Media, a Wisconsin-based left-wing talk show network.

The station removed two short segments from the interview Biden did with host Earl Ingram that aired on July 4 at the request of the president’s campaign, according to Civic Media’s statement. Civic Media said it stood by Ingram, who was one of two hosts contacted by the Biden camp for a possible interview following his June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump.

“In the interest of transparency, and consistent with Civic Media’s mission and core values, we are sharing the edited segments now, and making the full, unedited interview available,” Civic Media said. “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.”

In the first segment that was removed, lasting 11 seconds, Biden boasted about the number of black appointees in his administration after touting his selection of Kamala Harris as vice president and Ketanji Brown-Jackson’s appointment to the Supreme Court, 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,” according to the network.

In the second segment, which was about five seconds, Biden appeared to garble words while apparently criticizing Trump for the former’s reaction to the 1989 rape of a woman who was jogging in Central Park, according to Civic Media. “I don’t know if they even call for their hanging or not, but he–but they said […] convicted of murder,” Biden said in the removed segment.

“With a high-profile interview comes a listener expectation that journalistic interview standards will be applied, even for non-news programming,” Civic Media’s statement said. “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 statement continued. “We have taken this opportunity as a new media organization to clarify our internal policies to ensure that everyone in the organization understands the standards we expect for live and pre-recorded interviews, particularly for commentators and other non-news personnel.”

A second radio host who received questions in advance from the Biden campaign, Andrea Lawful-Sanders, was dropped by WURD after she revealed she’d received the questions during a July 6 CNN appearance.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.