Quick Hit:

Civic Media, a progressive talk-radio network in Wisconsin, made two edits to a recorded interview with President Joe Biden, as requested by his campaign. .

Key Details:

• Edit Details: The edits included removing Biden's claim about the number of Black officials in his administration and a controversial reference to Donald Trump’s past comments about the Central Park Five.
• Journalistic Concerns: The station acknowledged that these edits did not meet the usual standards for journalistic integrity and expressed regret over the decision.
• Campaign Influence: This incident comes after a debate where Biden’s performance raised questions about the transparency and authenticity of pre-screened political interviews.

Diving Deeper:

Milwaukee-based Civic Media has admitted to editing an interview with President Joe Biden at the behest of his campaign, raising questions about journalistic integrity and media influence in politics. The edits were made to a July 3 interview conducted by host Earl Ingram, which aired the next day following a notably shaky debate performance by Biden.

The two specific edits involved a claim by Biden about the racial diversity of his administration and his reference to Donald Trump’s comments regarding the Central Park Five. Specifically, the edits were: 

1. At time 5:20, the removal of “...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.”
2. At time 14:15, in reference to Donald Trump’s call for the death penalty for the Central Park Five, the removal of “I don’t know if they even call for their hanging or not, but he–but they said [...] convicted of murder.” 

Civic Media’s statement explained that the decision was made in good faith but acknowledged a mistake had been made. "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," their statement read. The station has decided to make the full, unedited interview available online

"Joe Biden" by Gage Skidmore licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED.