President Biden's team provided interview questions to radio hosts for approval before their interviews with him.
This practice is not standard in journalism and raises concerns about transparency and potential bias.
In the aftermath of President Joe Biden's controversial debate performance, it has been revealed that his team provided questions to radio hosts for approval before their interviews with him. This practice is not standard in journalism and raises concerns about transparency and potential bias.
A second local radio host, Earl Ingram, was given a list of questions in advance of his interview with President Joe Biden.
Earl Ingram was given five questions and ended up asking four of them.
Accuracy
Another local radio host, Andrea Lawful-Sanders, was also given a list of questions ahead of her interview with Biden.
The Biden campaign confirmed that they provided suggested questions to the hosts but denied conditioning interviews on acceptance of these questions.
Deception
(100%)
None Found At Time Of
Publication
Fallacies
(85%)
The author reports on two local radio hosts who were given questions in advance of their interviews with President Biden. The author does not make any fallacious statements herself, but the practice of providing questions to interviewers can be considered a form of manipulation or an attempt to control the narrative. This is an example of an appeal to authority fallacy if it is implied that these hosts are obligated to ask these questions or that their credibility is diminished if they do not. However, since the author does not make this implication explicitly, I cannot give a score higher than 85.
][The Biden campaign] told ABC News on Saturday that they 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.[/]
[Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt] noted that it's not 'at all an uncommon practice for interviewees to share topics they would prefer.'[
Biden’s campaign aides provided questions for radio hosts to ask him during recent interviews
'The Source' in Philadelphia received and approved 8 out of the 12 questions given by the campaign
Andrea Lawful-Sanders acknowledged four of these questions were chosen from the list provided by Biden's campaign
Accuracy
Biden's campaign aides provided questions for radio hosts to ask him during recent interviews
Andrea Lawful-Sanders of WURD's ‘The Source’ in Philadelphia received and approved 8 out of the 12 questions given by the campaign
Earl Ingram of WAUK also received suggested questions but did not provide his own account to CNN
Deception
(100%)
None Found At Time Of
Publication
Fallacies
(100%)
None Found At Time Of
Publication
Bias
(90%)
The article reports that Biden campaign aides provided questions for radio hosts to ask the President during interviews. This is not standard journalistic practice and can be seen as an attempt to control the narrative and shape the interview in a favorable way for Biden. The fact that two different radio hosts made similar statements about receiving questions from the campaign further supports this bias.
And the four that were chosen were the ones that I approved
President Biden's White House helped draft questions for his first post-debate interview with a Black radio station.
Biden spokesperson Lauren Hitt claimed the White House did not manage the process or the questions and it was handled by the campaign.
Accuracy
]President Biden's White House helped draft questions for his first post-debate interview[
Four out of eight questions were chosen and approved by Lawful-Sanders for Biden’s interview.
Biden campaign provided a list of questions to Andrea Lawful-Sanders, host of ‘The Source’ in Philadelphia for approval.
Deception
(100%)
None Found At Time Of
Publication
Fallacies
(100%)
None Found At Time Of
Publication
Bias
(95%)
The article reports that the White House helped draft questions for President Biden's post-debate interviews with Black radio stations. This is an example of monetary bias as the White House is using its power and resources to control the narrative and shape the questions in a way that benefits them. The Biden team's actions can be seen as patronizing towards Black media, who were used as human shields for their communications crisis.
Presented with this reporting, some Democrats think the White House was cynically and patronizingly using Black media at a moment of crisis.
The White House helped draft the questions that the host asked the president.
Biden's team provided a list of questions to Andrea Lawful-Sanders for approval.
Four out of eight questions were chosen and approved by Lawful-Sanders for Biden's interview.
CNN reported later that it was the Biden campaign that handled the interview.
Accuracy
Another local radio host, Earl Ingram, was also given a list of questions ahead of his interview with Biden.
Deception
(30%)
The article reports on both the Biden and Trump campaigns providing questions to interviewers. However, the article does not disclose that it was the Biden campaign who initially brought up this issue when they criticized the Trump campaign for canceling an interview after asking for questions in advance. This is a selective reporting of information, as it only reports on the deceptive practices of one campaign while ignoring their own. Additionally, the article uses emotional manipulation by implying that Biden's actions are normal behavior and that Trump's actions are bullying.
CNN — But just about 15 minutes ago the Trump team canceled on Mike Gooding after asking us what our questions would be for the former president, telling Mike that there was no more time and that the former president only wanted to talk about last night’s debate.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden and his campaign are bullying media into asking pre-screened and approved questions and trying to pass it off like it’s normal behavior. It’s not.
Fallacies
(85%)
The article contains an example of a dichotomous depiction and an appeal to authority. The dichotomous depiction is seen in the comparison made between Joe Biden and Donald Trump regarding providing questions to interviewers. The appeal to authority comes from quoting a Biden campaign spokesperson for their stance on providing questions for interviews. No other fallacies were found.
The radio interviews came at a critical moment for Biden’s political future as a growing number of elected officials, Democratic donors and supporters express deep concerns about his age and capacity to serve a second term as president.
Bias
(95%)
The authors provide examples of both campaigns providing questions to interviewers, but they only criticize the Biden campaign for this practice. They also use language that depicts the Trump campaign as not bullying media and not passing off pre-screened questions as normal behavior, while implying that the Biden campaign is doing so.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden and his campaign are bullying media into asking pre-screened and approved questions and trying to pass it off like it’s normal behavior. It’s not.
The former president’s campaign ignored the claim and instead slammed Biden for allegedly providing questions to interviewers in advance.
