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Radio host resigns after admitting Biden aides gave her questions for interview

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/08/biden-wurd-radio-interview-questions

Philadelphia’s WURD says host violated editorial independence by accepting questions from Biden’s team

Radio host resigns after admitting Biden aides gave her questions for interview

The outlet, which describes itself as Pennsylvania’s only African American-owned and operated radio station, also said the White House’s decision to supply questions to Lawful-Sanders prolonged a historical practice of marginalizing and “de-legitimizing Black voices” in US media.

"Lawful-Sanders was one of two battleground state radio hosts who aired an interview with Biden on 4 July and described being given questions by the president’s staff ahead of the conversation."

21 comments

schizo

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Not passing judgement on anyone's behavior, but isn't it typical to be given a list of approved questions when interviewing someone like the president?

wolf_2202

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Yes. I don’t personally understand what the story is here. I’ve never heard of any high-profile politician going into an scheduled interview without a team providing a list of approved questions.

foggy

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The story is:

The presidents aides called a radio station before an interview with the president to give them a list of questions.

This is bad journalism.

Imagine if Trump gave CNN a list of questions they could ask him on air. Would you watch that interview? Take it seriously?

wolf_2202

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No, I wouldn’t watch that interview. I, and I’d wager everyone else using the fediverse, am highly skeptical of large media institutions specifically because they engage in questionable journalistic practices like this.

My point is: there is no scandal here. It seems to me that this story is getting signal boosted specifically to discredit the president. The realities of interviews like this are left out of these headlines and it’s very frustrating.

sunzu

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The story is a cover up

dank

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No. It's fairly common for interviewees to ask for a list of questions beforehand, but according to Boston University journalism professor Christopher Daly "it is not good professional practice to give questions in advance to sources such as public officials." And to let the interviewee actually write the questions for you is egregious journalism malpractice, thus the resignation.

rigatti

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Not sure but that wouldn't surprise me.

Carrolade

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Regardless, the optics at the moment are harmful. I mostly appreciate the job Joe has done, but I'm starting to come around on a Kamala candidacy.

If he resigned from the Presidency now, for personal reasons, that would be nothing but respected by almost all Americans. Kamala would become President, and be running as the incumbent trying to continue his policies and direction into the next term.

She may not poll well at the moment, but that could be worked on.

ptz

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She may not poll well at the moment, but that could be worked on.

The election is in ~3 months (doesn't seem like it given our 3 year election cycles, but it is). I'm hesitant to add any more chaos to this already chaotic election.

Viking_Hippie

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Better to add more "chaos" than to bet the future of the world on an already losing candidate who's only digging the hole deeper every time he reaffirms his commitment to not listen to the people he's supposed to represent.

schizo

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Agree he should just resign and go spend the last couple years of his life doing whatever it is he does for fun rather than sitting in the Oval Office and having his brain continue to rot.

But eh, I don't see there being a single chance for Kamala to actually win.

catloaf

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Seriously. Let him go back to being Diamond Joe and polishing his Trans Am.

dank

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Do you think she would resign if it was typical?

schizo

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I have absolutely no idea, hence why I was asking.

It sounds like the problem is she accepted the questions in violation of policy, but the headlines around this don't actually SAY that, and keep talking about how they gave her questions.

Which, fair enough, don't do things your employer explicitly tells you not to do if you like your job and want to keep it, i guess?

jordanlund

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She's being forced out for admitting they fed her the questions.

jordanlund

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It's not just radio interviews like this, it's late night talk shows too. Everyone knows the questions and answers before they go live.

This journalists problem is that she didn't have to actually USE the questions, she could have gone her own direction. It's also likely they're forcing her out for admitting they fed her the questions, making the Biden team look bad.

dank

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Is it standard operating procedure or not? If it is, then why would it make the Biden team look bad for revealing that they followed the norms.

It's not unheard of for a politician to ask what will be covered in an interview. It's not good practice to provide questions ahead of time, and it's unheard of to let the interviewee script the questions themselves.

Most damning is the lack of confidence Biden's own staffers have in him to rig the interviews in which he is supposed to be demonstrating his mental agility and acuity.

FiremanEdsRevenge

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Because the media is complicit and anything and everything the Biden administration does, whether good or bad, is still portrayed as bad. You just fell for their bullshit.

njm1314

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Yeah this doesn't add up. She's being forced out over something else. This is a cover.

CaptainSpaceman

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Or she was offered something lucrative in return. Usually a cushy job making lots more money than before.

This is the method used on many senators in us Congress, its a form of legalized bribery.

Time will tell what really happened, because this is a non story for any other president.

some_guy

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Other presidents haven’t performed as poorly as he did during a debate. While concerns over their age and mental acuity were already at play.