Milwaukee Radio: Progressive Talk Net Admits Making WH Edits

 Civic Media, a Wisconsin-based progressive talk-radio network, said Thursday it had agreed to make two edits to an interview with President Joe Biden at the request of his campaign before the broadcast aired, a decision the station said fell short of "journalistic interview standards."

Still, the station said, it stands by its popular host Earl Ingram, who conducted the interview with Biden following the June 27 televised debate with rival Republican Donald Trump during which the president lost his train of thought and at times made nonsensical statements. Ingram's interview was recorded on July 3 and aired on July 4.

"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 said in a statement released on Thursday.

The two edits, according to the station, were:

Here’s the audio the Biden team asked to be removed from the president’s interview.https://t.co/EAMjFgIGgJ https://t.co/9i0bRHdnjT pic.twitter.com/VK0d9RGUJL

— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) July 11, 2024

• 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.”
• 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.” 

"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 statement read.

According to the statement, Civic Media has clarified its policies "particularly for commentators and other non-news personnel."

Ingram, a longtime Biden supporter, told ABC News last weekend, "Yes, I was given some questions for Biden." Ingram has not responded to questions from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.