Milwaukee Radio Station Edited Biden Interview by Request

Civic Media, A Wisconsin-based network that owns the Milwaukee radio station that agreed to questions in advance in its interview with President Joe Biden, announced Thursday that producers of the show also scrubbed two segments at the request of the Biden campaign.

The segments removed totaled 16 seconds in the 18-minute interview, but they cast Biden in a bad light at a time he was trying to do damage control in the aftermath of his June 27 debate against Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump.

The editing of Biden's interview with "The Earl Ingram Show," which was taped July 3 and aired the next day, "did not meet those expectations" of journalistic standards, Civic Media said in a statement Thursday.

"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," Civic Media said.

Civic Media also released what the edited Biden statements 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 former President's 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.'"

The first statement was a lie. According to Pew Research, Biden is behind former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama in percentage of Black Cabinet members. Clinton had 27% and 20% in his first and second terms, respectively, while Obama had 25% in his second term. Biden has 19%.

Civic Media also released the full unedited interview.

"The decision to make the requested edits to the interview was made in good faith. While we disagree with the decision, we stand by our team. This has been a learning experience and we will do better moving forward," Civic Media concluded its statement.

Civic Media made no mention of Ingram's decision to ask Biden four of the five questions fed to him by the Biden campaign.

A Black-owned radio station in Philadelphia did the same thing, resulting in the departure of WURD Radio host Andrea Lawful-Sanders days later, in what the station said was a mutual parting. It's unclear if Lawful-Sanders' departure was due to her agreeing to the planted questions or publicly admitting to having done so.

• CNN Guest Admits Questions Were Given Ahead of Interviews
• Biden to Milwaukee Radio: 'Bad Debate,' 'I Screwed Up; I Made a Mistake'