Is journalism starting to return to core values?

The presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump last month put the Democrats in a tailspin. The commander-in-chief has spent most of the time since defending his disastrous performance and even his very ability to lead after calls from many within his own party that he step down. Unfortunately, Biden hasn’t instilled much confidence in the Dems or the people with his subsequent follow-up interviews. It doesn’t help matters when news breaks that his administration requested and received edits from a recent radio interview.

Biden Campaign Gets Edited Interview

Civic Media, a Wisconsin-based progressive talk-radio network, revealed it had agreed to edit out two sections in an interview with Biden. According to a press release by the station, The Earl Ingram Show recorded on July 3 and aired on July 4. Four days later, the station’s management was notified that the Biden campaign had called and requested edits before the show was broadcast and the production team at the time agreed and published the revised version.

“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 press release states. The network went on to say how important it is to be transparent and follow journalistic rules and integrity: “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 Edits

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.”

“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 station explained.

As Liberty Nation News Political Correspondent Joe Schaeffer reported, Ingram admitted to receiving questions to ask Biden before recording. This is not unusual under this administration, as it has been revealed time and again that questions and reporters are chosen ahead of press conferences. What is new, at least in the past three or so years, is the turn around by the media. They can no longer continue to ignore the president’s obvious issues and are now starting to report the news, if still a bit skewed.

Could this be a sign that news outlets are starting to take responsibility for their reporting? While it’s true that articles and recordings are edited for time and consistency, it generally isn’t the interviewee who dictates what stays in – or, for that matter, what questions are asked by whom.

It is understandable that Biden officials and campaign personnel would want to control the narrative and see that the president is shown in the best light possible, especially after the June 27 debate debacle. However, that is not the responsibility of the media.