WURD Radio, the only African-American owned and operated talk radio station in Pennsylvania, has terminated the morning radio host Andrea Lawful-Sanders after she admitted to using questions pre-provided by President Joe Biden’s team during an interview. The station made this decision in response to Lawful-Sanders’ revelation that she received eight questions from Biden’s team and used four of them during the broadcast, which they stated violated their commitment to “independent journalism.”
The Philadelphia-based station emphasized in a statement their dedication to remaining an independent media outlet accountable to their listeners. They expressed concerns that accepting pre-prepared questions would undermine their credibility and perpetuate the practice of “de-legitimizing Black voices” by making them appear as a “mouthpiece” for the Biden administration.
The station said, “On July 3, the first post-debate interview with President Joe Biden was arranged and negotiated independently by WURD Radio host Andrea Lawful-Sanders without knowledge, consultation or collaboration with WURD management. The interview featured pre-determined questions provided by the White House, which violates our practice of remaining an independent media outlet accountable to our listeners. As a result, Ms. Lawful-Sanders and WURD Radio have mutually agreed to part ways, effective immediately.”
The interview marked Biden’s first media appearance following a widely criticized debate performance and aimed to address concerns about his readiness for re-election. Radio host Lawful-Sanders discussed the matter on CNN with Victor Blackwell, who broke the story about the pre-determined questions.
It was reported that the Biden campaign announced they would discontinue the practice of providing suggested questions for future interviews.
– – –
Christy Kelly is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Christy on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Andrea Lawful-Sanders” by Andrea Lawful-Sanders and “Joe Biden” is by Joe Biden.
