Fox News said Tuesday it intends to “discipline” network employees who agreed to let former EPA boss Scott Pruitt review scripts ahead of his appearances on the cable channel’s popular “Fox & Friends” morning show, The Associated Press reports.
Fox News reps did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening. But earlier in the day, the network told TheWrap in a statement: “This is not standard practice whatsoever and the matter is being addressed internally with those involved.”
The network did not say who was being disciplined or what that action would entail.
Fox News came under fire Tuesday morning after admitting that several of its morning producers gave Pruitt interview questions and allowed his team to pick topics and review the show’s script in advance of his on-air appearances, a big no-no in journalism.
According to emails obtained by the Sierra Club via a Freedom of Information Act request and shared with TheWrap, Fox News producers and EPA staffers showed remarkable levels of pre-show cooperation between media and government officials that fall well outside journalistic practices.
“Would this be okay as the setup to his segment?” Fox producer Diana Aloi asked EPA press secretary Amy Graham before a May 2017 appearance by Pruitt, according to one email. Graham had already sent Aloi several talking points Pruitt wanted to cover during his “Fox & Friends” hit.
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Wrap