Fox’s Howard Kurtz Says Fox’s Scripted Interviews with Scott Pruitt a ‘Journalistic Breach’ and ‘Absolutely Out of Bounds

Last week, it was revealed that staffers at Fox News Channel scripted interviews with then-EPA administrator Scott Pruitt for appearances on Fox & Friends. On MediaBuzz on Sunday, Fox’s media critic Howard Kurtz addressed it.

“During some appearances on Fox & Friends, former EPA chief Scott Pruitt was given the questions in advance, and his team sometimes suggested the topics, according to emails provided to the Daily Beast,” said Kurtz to introduce the story. He then recounted some of the scripting and showed a clip of that scripted interview. (Watch the whole scripted interview here.)

Kurtz noted that Fox “disciplined” some staffers, as we noted here.

“Fox News says it has disciplined the staffers involved but is not disclosing what action was taken,” he said. He also quoted “the network spokesperson” on the topic.

“Look, it’s not unusual for television producers to respond to pitches, or to provide broad topic areas to make sure a guest is prepared to respond,” said Kurtz. “But providing questions and scripts in advance is a journalistic breach, and should be absolutely out of bounds.”

He then added as a mitigating factor for the network that it was on Fox in 2017 that Pruitt faced tough questions to begin with.

“By the way it was also last year that Fox’s Ed Henry grilled Pruitt on some of the financial problems that later led to his ouster,” he said. You can find that interview here.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/2RuMofE