Philadelphia’s WURD Radio has parted ways with station personality Andrea Lawful-Sanders following her July 3 interview with President Joe Biden. Lawful-Sanders revealed to CNN that the Biden campaign team gave her the questions she used in advance.
With some questioning the editorial integrity of WURD, which is Pennsylvania’s only independent Black-owned talk radio station, President and CEO Sara M. Lomax published a statement acknowledging the incident, saying that the interview was arranged, “without knowledge, consultation, or collaboration with WURD management.”
Questions asked covered Biden’s performance during the June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump, the Biden/Harris administration’s accomplishments for Black voters, the importance of the election, and opinions on those who do not plan to vote in the upcoming general election.
Lomax stated, “Agreeing to a pre-determined set of questions jeopardizes that trust and is not a practice that WURD Radio engages in or endorses as a matter of practice or official policy.” Due to this, Andrea Lawful-Sanders will no longer host her show, The Source, on the station.
She referenced WURD’s February trip to the White House under defined terms that allowed for unrestricted questioning. “We were clear that our hosts would ask difficult and provocative questions of their own determination based on the needs and interests of WURD’s listening audience — Black Philadelphians,” said Lomax.
As of this writing, the Lawful-Sanders interview remains available on the WURD Soundcloud.
Another radio host, Earl Ingram, told ABC News that he was provided with questions ahead of his recent interview with President Biden. Ingram was given five questions by Biden’s aides, of which he asked four.
Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt commented, “It’s not at all an uncommon practice for interviewees to share topics they would prefer. These questions were relevant to news of the day – the president was asked about this debate performance as well as what he’d delivered for Black Americans. We 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.”
