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Producers at “Fox & Friends” allowed an aide to former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt to pre-approve a script for an interview with Pruitt on the program, according to email messages uncovered through a Freedom of Information Act request by The Sierra Club. The emails show that Fox contacted Pruitt’s staffers about his appearing on the show, and that those staff members had a say in determining what topics would be addressed in the interview. In addition, Diana Aloi, a “Fox & Friends” producer, sent an email to former EPA press representative Amy Graham with the lead-in that would be used, asking “Would this be OK as a setup to his segment?” The intro to the on-air interview held to the pre-arranged script. Fox says they are planning to discipline the employees behind the exchange.
 Laurene Powell Jobs |
Emerson Collective, the social-change focused organization run by Laurene Powell Jobs, has purchased Pop-Up Magazine Productions. The company operates Pop-Up Magazine, a “live magazine” that consists of events held in more than a dozen cities around the country, and California Sunday, whose print edition runs in the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle. “Both magazines have managed to create unique journalistic platforms that help foster empathy and a better understanding of the world,” Powell Jobs said in a statement. Emerson, which assumed majority ownership of the Atlantic last year, also supports such nonprofit journalism organizations as ProPublica, Mother Jones and the Texas Observer. It made a $10 million investment in Pop-Up last year.
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Bustle Digital Group is expected to soon close a deal to buy digital news site Mic, according to a report in the New York Post. The Post report says that the company laid off 60 to 70 employees Thursday morning, allegedly in preparation for the transaction. The move follows a decision by Facebook to call off a $5 million agreement with Mic to publish a news video series. Bustle owns several women’s lifestyle sites and purchased gossip site Gawker for $1.35 million in a U.S. Bankruptcy auction last year. Mic co-founders Jake Horowitz and company CEO Chris Altchek are expected to remain with the company.
McClatchy, which owns 29 daily papers across 14 states (including The Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee and Kansas City Star), launches a wave of layoffs that extends to at least 13 of those papers... The Toledo Blade, which was founded in 1835, is set to shut down on Dec. 31, unless owner Block Communications manages to find a buyer for it... A bill awaiting approval by California governor Gavin Newsom would give local newsrooms a boost. 
Fox News Media issued a pretty sparse release to announce the departure of one of its stars. “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media,” it reads.
Brunswick Group partner John Simons has joined CNN as senior director of business & media. He held top jobs at Time and the Wall Street Journal.
WNET, the nation’s largest public media company, names Edward O’Keefe its next president and CEO, effective September 21. O’Keefe succeeds Neal Shapiro, who becomes president emeritus and will retire at the end of the year... The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, which would empower news publishers and other content providers to defend themselves by mandating transparency for all bots crawling their sites, in introduced in the House by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)... Google gets socked by European Union regulators with a $1 billion fine for using the platform’s dominance as a search engine to illegally undercut competition.
Boston Globe Media acquires InstaTrac, a company that provides subscription-based services aimed at making government information easier to find, track, and understand... AARP names former New Republic CEO and publisher Michael Caruso as its SVP and chief content officer, unifying the organization's portfolio of media, live events and digital platforms... The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, awards its inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowships.
