Jamaican resigns from US radio station after revealing Biden aides provided interview questions
WASHINGTON, United States — A Jamaican has resigned from WURD Radio in Philadelphia after she admitted to using questions supplied by United States (US) President Joe Biden’s aides to interview the president last week.
Andrea Lawful-Sanders announced on Sunday via her Instagram that WURD Radio had accepted her resignation after she tendered it.
According to a Guardian article, Lawful-Sanders’s resignation came after she went on a CNN program a day earlier and revealed that she asked Biden four questions provided to her in advance by his team.
“The questions were sent to me for approval — I approved of them,” said Lawful-Sanders said. “I got several questions — eight of them. And the four that were chosen were the ones that I approved.”
Twenty-four hours later, Lawful-Sanders made a post on Instagram stating, “On July 2, 2024, I received a call from the White House communications team inviting me to speak with President Biden. As an independent contractor for WURD, it has been a standard practice to book my interviews and develop questions for my guests without knowledge, consultation, or collaboration from station management.”
She continued, “Upon accepting the invitation, I began working with the team regarding suggested topics to be discussed. Throughout my communications with the White House communications team, there was never any guarantee that the interview would be aired on WURD as they contacted me directly and, to my knowledge, not the station.”
The interview with Biden aired on July 4.
The Guardian report noted that in its own statement later Sunday, WURD Radio claimed Lawful-Sanders had arranged the interview “without knowledge, consultation or collaboration with … management” and violated the station’s editorial independence by accepting questions supplied by Biden’s team.
It said the statement further outlined that Biden aides’ decision to supply questions prolonged a historical practice of marginalising and “de-legitimising Black voices” in US media.
“WURD Radio is not a mouthpiece for the Biden or any other administration,” the statement obtained by The Guardian said.
