A Fox News Channel Producer Promised Betsy DeVos "An Easy Interview" in 2018 Email
THR has reviewed more than 1,000 pages of emails between Fox employees and aides at the Departments of Homeland Security, Education and Agriculture.
In 2018 and 2019, booking Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was a top priority for both producers and anchors at the Fox News Channel.
So much so that one Fox News producer sought to reassure Devos' press secretary that host Maria Bartiromo would go easy on the Secretary if she sat for an interview, which she did six days later.
On Nov. 21, 2018, the producer wrote: "Ps remember any question she doesn't feel comfortable answering — she can choose to not answer and pivot the topic — and Maria is seasoned enough to understand and move on. ... So no worries on that front. This will be an easy interview and enjoyable." (The producer is no longer with the company.)
"This should be totally fine," the press secretary responded. (Media Matters for America, an anti-Fox News advocacy group, would describe the Bartiromo—DeVos chat as a "softball interview."
That exchange was among dozens of email conversations that reflect the symbiotic relationship between the news network and staffers working in the Trump administration. For this story, The Hollywood Reporter reviewed more than 1,000 pages containing emails between Fox employees and aides at the Departments of Homeland Security, Education and Agriculture, obtained via a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the advocacy group Democracy Forward.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/a-fox-news-channel-producer-promised-betsy-devos-an-easy-interview-2018-email-1285842
= new reply since forum marked as read
