A radio host resigned after interviewing Biden with questions provided by his campaign - eviltoast
  • TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    Damn man How many times is this non story going to be posted today?

    Every candidate or incumbent gives a list of questions to interviewers.

    Every. One.

    • Sunforged@lemmy.ml
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      4 months ago

      Do you see that as a good thing?

      Do you think scripted interviews inspire confidence in voters when the current concern is his ability to think on his feet?

      • PunnyName@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Those people don’t understand how media interviews work. The less time a person has to be interviewed (i.e. the more responsibilities / power they have), the more likely the interview has scripted prompts.

        This is basic media production.

        • HomerianSymphony@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          The less time a person has to be interviewed

          the more likely the interview has scripted prompts.

          Does answering unscripted questions take longer?

          Like, he doesn’t have time for unscripted questions, but he does have time for scripted questions? How does that work?

          • PunnyName@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Coming up with questions pre-interview is a commonplace thing. And if you aren’t someone with questions in the bag, you’re not doing the job right.

          • PunnyName@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            You need to change the world of time. Because that’s what media interviews work around.

            • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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              4 months ago

              I’m pretty sure that a presidential campaign that’s in terrible shape can make time to reassure voters if they’re serious about restoring confidence. Not doing so is either irresponsible or an admission that they know they / he can’t do better.

              • PunnyName@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                Okay.

                Go grab 2 microphones. Sure SM58s are the workhorse of the industry. $100 each, so that’s $200.
                Get 1 pair of Sony MDR7506 (workhorse) headphones. $100.
                Now get an interface, Scarlet 2i2 has 2x line-in ports for easy use, and a Firewire -> USB. Another $200
                Then download the REAPER audio program, unless you wanna try Audacity (which sucks), free trial for however long you want, or about $60 for the license.
                $500-600 investment isn’t too bad for actual good quality audio. Please don’t skimp on it.

                If you’re thinking of adding in cameras and a switcher and control board and mixer and graphics etc., plan on adding at minimum $2000 more to your budget.

                Now, you don’t really need an actual studio, or audio treatment of the walls. You can do an interview in your kitchen if you feel like it, no issue.

                I want you to schedule 5 interviews next week, at precisely the same time, let’s say 6pm local (wherever you are). Then 5 more interviews at the same exact time the following 3 weeks. Get you a whole 20 interviews set up with different people of different walks of life. You’re gonna schedule the whole thing to be an hour long. For a grand total of 20 interviews all scheduled to be at 6pm (or whatever time you choose) local time.

                Now make sure you have your levels (the way things sound, ensuring not too loud or soft) working when they get there, you’ll likely want your guests to get there before the scheduled interview time, at least 5-10 minutes prior, so they can actually ARRIVE to your recording location. Then you’ll want them to talk to the microphone to ensure they sound good, not too loud or soft, and also instruct them on basic mic technique (your audience is IN the microphone). But, alas, you’ll need to constantly let them know to speak into the mic, probably by pointing at it while they speak.

                You could bring in a friend or family member to pay attention to the audio info on the REAPER / Audacity digital workstation, or you could try to do it yourself while also making sure you have enough questions to fill an hour, but also allowing free-form thought to happen, because more people really prefer a conversational tone in audio formats. Make sure you’re interesting, and entertaining enough for people to listen to, but also have proper probing questions that can challenge or otherwise get your interviewee off balance. Audiences love it when the question is a hard ball, and the answerer isn’t super prepared for it; makes for great entertainment.

                Now do this 20 times in a 4 week period (just remember, you have 24 hours in a day like the rest of us). And come back and let me know.

                Even tho I’ve already done it before.

                • Sunforged@lemmy.ml
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                  4 months ago

                  So uh, I went to school for audio production, while I didn’t pursue that career path all of my friends from college are currently in the AV industry, senior AV admins for companies ranging from Amazon to radio. I have a personal recording setup that I am teaching my daughter Reaper with. I have an intimate understanding of what it takes. ROFL at you listing pricing as if that is relevant to the conversation at hand.

                  Is my understanding of your point that it’s very hard to manage interviews, so much so that if you have the opportunity to interview the President of the United States you need assistance planning the questions because of your oh so busy schedule? The more you talk the less credible your argument becomes.

                  Also 95% of what you typed out doesn’t matter in a professional setting as the person doing the interview is not the producer or the engineer. Just utterly irrelevant.

            • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              I know how interviews work. I’ve been on many for jobs and they’re never the same scripted questions. Sure, some sameish ones pop up but I’m also never giving them in advance or been given them in advance.

              A presidential media interview IS a fucking job interview. A very public one and @Sunforged@lemmy.ml and @some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org aren’t wrong. The mold should broken at some point. Continuing the tradition just because “that’s how they’ve traditionally worked” is a bullshit excuse. I want to know how they can handle a question about their potential job on the fly because they sure as hell have to respond to it on the fly when shit actually happens.

              • PunnyName@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                Good luck trying to break the mold when you only have 24 hours in a day and more than 1 interview a day, plus other responsibilities.
                You got solutions? Because I’m all ears.

                • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
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                  4 months ago

                  Limit the question(s) and/or only one specific channel that is publicly accessible to all citizens OTA would be a start - PBS maybe. Allow for repeat viewings throughout the week so everyone has a chance to catch it. The major news networks will pick up what they want anyway for sound bytes regardless of multiple or a singular interview.

                  Repeat at intervals as needed with different questions from a left, right, and moderate perspective. Have an independent panel choose the questions for the interviewer to ask from a pool of questions that are known to be big/hot topics the public cares about.

                  There’s no need for a circuit. Let the president give their answers officially there and run the country/campaign where they need to.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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        4 months ago

        Do you see that as a good thing?

        I can see the goalposts moving. That’s what I see.

  • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    Compare this to the only current alternative. Do people think that trump is ever subject to unapproved questions? Fox and others only throw softballs. He didn’t even answer the questions in the debate. Biden did and I learned more about his policies.

    Current news media acts like it values facts and reasoned discourse, but it really likes ratings and advertising. I don’t care what the “editorial staff” has to say anymore. They’re not fair-minded independent journalists; they’re literally paid by advertisers. They might as well put product logos all over the WSJ and the NY Times.

  • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    “I got several questions, eight of them, and the four that were chosen were the ones that I approved,” she added.

    Ingram didn’t answer, but separately told the Associated Press on Saturday that Biden aides sent him a list of four questions in advance, adding, “There was no back and forth.”

    He said while the predetermined list had given him pause, he moved forward because “this was an opportunity to talk to the president of the United States.”

    NPR has confirmed that the Biden campaign — as opposed to the White House — engaged with the hosts ahead of their interviews.

    Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt defended the move in a statement, saying it’s “not at all an uncommon practice for interviewees to share topics they would prefer” and that the questions asked of Biden were “relevant to the news of the day.”

    “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,” she added.

    In the wake of the controversy, the campaign decided to stop offering suggested questions, a source familiar with the campaign’s media booking operation said, speaking on condition of anonymity to comment on private discussions.

    Seems they were fine until others got upset? This headline is once again misleading. But by all means, let the media divide us lmao

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    4 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    A Philadelphia radio host has parted ways with her station after interviewing President Biden with questions provided by his campaign, a move prohibited by many newsrooms including her own.

    Andrea Lawful-Sanders is one of two journalists — both hosts of Black radio shows in critical swing states — who acknowledged over the weekend that the Biden camp had fed them questions for interviews earlier in the week.

    Host Victor Blackwell pointed out that each asked Biden “essentially the same” four questions about his accomplishments, debate performance, the stakes of the election and message to apathetic voters.

    Biden has engaged in fewer press conferences and media interviews than any of the last seven presidents at this point in their terms, according to an analysis shared with NPR by presidential scholar Martha Joynt Kumar.

    “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,” Lomax wrote.

    Lomax went on to say that the station is not a “mouthpiece for the Biden or any other Administration.” She said WURD Radio seeks to “grow from this incident,” and committed to internally reviewing its policies and practices in the hopes of reinforcing its independence and regaining listeners’ trust.


    The original article contains 887 words, the summary contains 207 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

        • sunzu@kbin.run
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          4 months ago

          So something that happens every day is somehow being blown as national news because …?

          I aint even Biden acolyte but this whole thing smell rotten lol

          Democratic operatives are shilling hard since this AM?

          • Blaine@lemmy.ml
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            4 months ago

            Because after the last debate, where Biden stood slack-jawed and confused for 90 minutes and failed to fill most of his 2-minute answer slots or even complete most of his sentences, he DESPERATELY needs to prove to people that he can think and act on his feet.

            In an effort to prove that, he’s made a series of teleprompted remarks and done interviews with preselected questions. He should be holding townhalls, but instead he’s taking softballs.

            So instead of proving the narrative wrong, he is continuing to reinforce the widespread belief among voters that he is incapable of showing that he’s with it and is nothing more than a senile old man being abused by those around him so they can remain in power. Agree or not - that’s the perception and Biden is reinforcing it every day he doesn’t take real, hard-hitting questions on the fly without the help of a teleprompter or friendly audience/interviewer.

            • sunzu@kbin.run
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              4 months ago

              I don’t disagree with any of this but why would I respect party Kommissars injecting shiti propaganda into my feed?

              If DNC feels this way, say it out loud and propose a new guy.

              This is pathetic and does not resonate with anyone vaguely tuned in. These boomers need to adjust their shiti playbooks and listen to their wage slaves…

              • Blaine@lemmy.ml
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                4 months ago

                I must be way out of the loop. Aside from a brand of coolers, what does “shiti” mean?

                I don’t work for the DNC and I’m not a boomer. I’m just a 30-something Bernie-bro who can read polls and knows Biden is losing EVERY SINGLE SWING STATE to Trump right now, and the numbers get worse every week as the cracks in the Biden facade become more apparent. And I really don’t want Trump to win.

                • sunzu@kbin.run
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                  4 months ago

                  I was talking about DNC handlers spinning this shit, not you here.

                  The spin is limp dick here… i am not commenting if Biden should stay or go, i don’t care either. I am voting third party as protest vote.

        • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Surprise surprise, an industry doesn’t work like people assume it does. This applies to literally everything, everyday in society. Yet society keeps on rolling along because they are done this way for a reason. Nothing is new anymore, things work the way they do because that’s how it works best. That is until the media intentionally makes a mountain out of a mole hill for ratings, and thus advertising revenue. And the current makeup of the government is a veritable golden goose for media companies. Constant scandal and bullshit being thrown around all the time with modern communication means a constant source of revenue.

          Congressional partisanship has fucked this country up, and it’s not new it dates back to the late 1800s and turn of the century. They limited the House of Representatives artificially to 435 members back in 1911. It has not been truly representative of the populace since then with districts in different states varying by millions of people from one end of the spectrum to the other since some states are so sparsely populated. The purpose of the House is to represent the size of each State. The Senate represents each equally. The House has been hamstring to be a weird fucked up version of both with this limitation.

          The Supreme Court should be increased to 13 seats, matching the 13 federal circuits, with each Justice overseeing a circuit, as designed. At its height, the court had 10 seats in 1863. A Republican controlled Congress in 1866 began fucking with the court due to partisanship to try to limit the power of Democrat Andrew Johnson, reducing the court to 7 members, and after he left they increased it again to the current limit of 9 in 1869 allowing Ulysses S. Grant to appoint two new justices.

          FDR wanted to increase the court size in 1937, appointing new judges as incumbent ones reached the age of 70, up to a maximum bench of 15, but that was rejected by Congress. So we’re at the point now where the US has one of the smallest Supreme Courts in the world, with scholars saying it cannot possibly represent a country the size of the US adequately, and we haven’t updated it since 1869 due to political squabbling. The larger the court, the less power any individual justice has, reducing or removing the “swing justice” problem we’ve dealt with for over a century now.

          And while we’re at it, get rid of the first past the post system, designed during a time where only white landowners could vote, and were expected to keep up with politics as a result of their abundance of daily time not slaving away with the menial jobs, and travel took weeks across the states to deliver news and ballots. It’s a system of its time, but it inherently creates a two party system, which puts people into an us vs them train of thought, which isn’t how the world works. We have the ability to do ranked choice voting, it works great in countries that have implemented it. Hell, it has even been implemented in some local and state elections in the US already. The parties themselves don’t have to go away, but there needs to be more than two viable options, and that means changing how the choices are made.