The journalist resigns after the interview with President Biden

2024-07-08 20:46:57, Kosova & Bota CNA

The journalist resigns after the interview with President Biden

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with President Joe Biden on the White House balcony during Independence Day celebrations (July 4, 2024). Source, Reuters

A radio host who interviewed President Joe Biden on July 3 has resigned after directing questions from the president's campaign team.

Andrea Lawful-Sanders, who hosted "The Source" on local radio station WURD, asked President Biden four questions during the first interview after last month's presidential debate.

WURD, Pennsylvania's only African-American radio station, said the interview was negotiated without the station's knowledge or consultation
.

Through a statement, the president of the WURD channel, Sara M. Lomax, said that sending questions from the election team "violates our practice of maintaining media independence."

The statement says that Ms. Lawful-Sanders has agreed to leave the WURD channel.

“As Pennsylvania's only African-American-owned independent radio station, WURD Radio has worked to earn the trust of audiences throughout our 20-year history. This is something we take very seriously," Ms Lomax said on the website. "Agreeing to a few predetermined questions compromises that trust and is not a WURD Radio practice."

Asked by US media, Ms Lawful-Sanders said the president's campaign team sent her eight questions, four of which she used during the interview.

Another radio host, who also interviewed President Biden in Milwaukee, said he too was given questions before the interview and therefore couldn't ask about all the things he wanted to.

A spokesperson for the election campaign was quoted by the media as saying that it is "not unusual" to share the topics they would like to talk about and that Ms. Lawful-Sanders had been free to ask other questions.

"We do not condition interviews on accepting these questions and the hosts are always free to ask the questions they think will best inform their listeners," said the campaign spokesperson.

The Associated Press news agency quoted a person with knowledge of how President Biden's campaign team conducts interviews as saying that the team is planning to stop the practice of providing interviewers with questions in advance./ VOA