Hello everyone! Let’s talk about a recent revelation that’s making waves in the world of media and politics. This past Saturday, two radio stations confirmed that Biden officials sent them questions in advance of their interviews with President Joe Biden.
This comes as the administration scrambles to recover from Biden’s less-than-stellar debate performance against former President Donald Trump last week.
First up, Andrea Lawful-Sanders, the host of “The Source” on WURD in Philadelphia, shared with CNN that she received several questions from the White House officials for approval. Out of the eight questions sent, four were chosen for the interview. Lawful-Sanders said, “The questions were sent to me for approval. I approved them.”
HOLY CR*P. PA radio station “cut ties” with Andrea Lawful-Sanders, the host who revealed that the White House sent her the questions before interviewing Biden pic.twitter.com/zJ0AAgJUiV
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 7, 2024
Similarly, Earl Ingram, host of “The Earl Ingram Show” in Milwaukee, had a comparable experience. Ingram confirmed to ABC News that he, too, was provided with questions by Biden officials. He received five questions and ended up asking four of them during his interview with the president.
Earl Ingram, #Milwaukee radio host, admits Biden’s aides “gave me the exact questions to ask.” pic.twitter.com/7NmEv0ZB8N
— Wisconsin Right Now (@wisconsin_now) July 6, 2024
When asked about this unusual practice, Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt defended the move. She mentioned that it’s not uncommon for interviewees to share preferred topics and that the questions were pertinent to current events, including Biden’s debate performance and his achievements for Black Americans. Hitt stressed that the interviews were not conditioned on accepting these questions and that hosts retained the freedom to ask their own questions.
“It’s not at all an uncommon practice for interviewees to share topics they would prefer. These questions were relevant to the news of the day – the president was asked about this debate performance as well as what he’d delivered for black Americans. We do not condition interviews on acceptance of these questions, and hosts are always free to ask the questions they think will best inform their listeners,” she claimed.
However, this explanation didn’t sit well with everyone. Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt weighed in, expressing his skepticism. Hewitt, a veteran in the radio industry since 1990, stated that while it’s common to get topic requests, receiving a list of questions to ask is far from normal. He remarked on X (formerly Twitter), “Very common to get a request for topics that I’ll be raising. Not common but not unheard of to get a nudge from staff that the guest would like to discuss X, Y, or Z. I’ve never received a list of questions to ask. Never.”
So, folks, what do you make of this? The controversy raises important questions about media independence and the transparency of political interviews.
