Oliver Darcy here. In this edition: ABC News starts rolling out its joint interview with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, Rush Limbaugh peddles a lie about Biden's DNC speech, Facebook preps for possible election chaos, why Big Tech's QAnon problem is just beginning, Stelter's first TV interviews about "Hoax," and more...

AMI's future

David Pecker is out at American Media Inc. In a surprising announcement, the company said Friday afternoon that it will merge with Accelerate 360, a company that helps businesses sell household products to retailers. Both AMI and Accelerate 360 are managed by Chatham Asset Management, which just purchased McClatchy.

As part of the deal, AMI will be renamed A360 Media and Pecker — who helped Donald Trump "catch and kill" unflattering stories — will move to an advisory role. Chris Scardino, an AMI EVP, will serve as president of A360 Media.

"This is a transformative event that significantly reshapes Accelerate and American Media into a new type of media and marketing company with an unprecedented reach all the way to the sales floor," said Accelerate CEO David Parry. Scardino promised the company will "be unlike anything the industry has seen with an ability to create direct access to consumers for our more than 2,300 active advertising partners."

"What a grisly end"

One former AMI staffer who spoke to the Daily Beast's Lloyd Grove and Lachlan Cartwright commented on the stunning nature of Pecker's demise. "It's unbelievable," the person said. "What a grisly end."

Current staffers who spoke to Grove and Cartwright expressed worry about the deal and their pay, which had been cut 23% amid pandemic woes. “We’re all feeling pretty terrible right now,” one said. "We’ve all been through a bunch of mergers before and when they talk about ‘duplicated functions’ and ‘synergies,’ I automatically think layoffs. I can’t even fathom what this is going to look like." Another added, "This means almost no chance of pay being restored to pre-pandemic levels."

Enquirer's future unclear

One conspicuous name missing in the press release announcing the news: the National Enquirer. The press release touted that AC 360 Media will feature Us Weekly, Life & Style, and OK! — but made no mention of the notorious Enquirer. A sale of the tabloid to Hudson News had been announced more than a year ago, but the deal still hasn't been completed.

It is worth noting that several other AMI publications weren't mentioned in the release, such as Men's Journal and Muscle & Fitness, but the Enquirer's omission raised eyebrows about the paper's future. And a source told WSJ's Lukas Alpert that "the tabloids aren't looked at as a core asset to the future of Accelerate."

>> Of note: An AMI spokesperson didn't respond to my request for comment...

Accelerated by the virus

In an internal memo obtained by NYT's Ben Smith, Parry said the pandemic had sped up talk about a merger. “The unexpected economic impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on magazine newsstand sales have accelerated the discussions and made the American Media/Accelerate integration necessary," Parry explained.

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- One of the top stories on WaPo's Saturday A1: "Ballots are postal priority, chief says..." (WaPo)

-- Speaking of which: Friday's news cycle was largely dominated by the postmaster general's Senate hearing. Jeremy Herb has the six main takeaways... (CNN)

-- The top story Friday evening on NYT's homepage: "California Seeks Help as 560 Wildfires Burn..." (NYT)

-- And the top story on WSJ's homepage: "Covid-19 Pay Cuts Coming to an End at Some Companies..." (WSJ)

-- Politico's Friday night scoop: "In leaked audio, Trump hailed low Black turnout in 2016..." (Politico)

ABC starts rolling out Biden/Harris interview

ABC News is rolling out the first clips from its Friday joint interview with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. In the interview, David Muir asked Biden if he'd shut down the country again if health officials recommended he do so. "I would shut it down; I would listen to the scientists," Biden replied, saying he would be "be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives because we cannot get the country moving until we control the virus." The full interview airs Sunday at 8pm ET...

21.8 million tune in for Biden speech

Approximately 21.8 million viewers tuned in Thursday night for Biden's speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination. NYT's Michael Grynbaum noted that figure was "down about 21% from Hillary's speech in 2016, in line with the rest of the week." It's worth pointing out that TV ratings don't include online/streaming views.

>> Related story from Grynbaum: "An examination of TV viewing patterns [during the convention] reveals a nation that remains deeply divided, politically and culturally. And it raises questions about which voters chose to focus on the convention and which voters tuned it out..."

Louis-Dreyfus' jokes

Brian Lowry emails: Although there was considerable debate Thursday night about Julia Louis-Dreyfus making jokes at Trump’s expense, watching Biden’s speech – in which he never mentioned the president by name – made clear that was a calculated move: Let someone else jab at Trump, while allowing Biden to be statesmanlike. You can question the extent to which the material worked, but like everything else about this convention, it was thought about and planned. Either way, it was one of those stories with a shelf life of about two hours.

Behind the scenes

How was the Democratic National Convention directed? Apparently from producer Glenn Weiss' family room. Weiss' fiancée, Janis Friedlander Svendsen, shared a photo showing the control room erected in their home. Weiss, with a headset on, is seen directing the production in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt!

Limbaugh floats false Biden conspiracy theory

Rush Limbaugh on Friday floated a false conspiracy theory to his radio audience suggesting that Biden didn't actually deliver his widely acclaimed speech live. "Some people are of the opinion that it had to be tape," Limbaugh said. "And that it had to be taped in segments and the segments had to be edited together because plugs is not capable of 22 minutes even reading a prompter with no screw-ups, this is the prevailing theory." As Mediaite's Reed Richardson pointed out, the lie is easily refutable as there "were roughly three-dozen reporters present—along with TV camera crews and Secret Service agents."

"Why the hell didn't you watch Lou Dobbs last night?"

Former DHS official Miles Taylor revealed Friday the extent of Lou Dobbs' influence inside the White House. "The president would call us and he would say — and pardon my language — he would say, ‘Why the hell didn’t you watch Lou Dobbs last night? You need to listen to Lou. What Lou says is what I want to do,'" Taylor told Anderson Cooper. "So if Lou Dobbs peddled a conspiracy theory on late-night television or made an erroneous claim about what should be done either at the border or with some law enforcement operation, the president wanted us to be tuning in every night."

Stelter's first TV interviews about "Hoax"

While I was watching "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" on Friday, Stelter popped up! It was the first TV interview about his book "Hoax," which comes out on Tuesday (order it here). Stelter revealed that a Fox News researcher reached out to him and went on the record, while still working at the network, and said "Fox’s allegiance to President Trump is putting our democracy at risk."

Later in the evening, he went on "The Rachel Maddow Show," but only after his better half Jamie carefully prepared a worthy backdrop for Skype. (They went to Target to buy props!)

Maddow read from the book at length, including this section: "A prominent Fox anchor admitted their concerns about Trump’s mental health and well-being. 'He is not well,' they said, in the same concerned tone that people use while talking about their grandfather." Stelter made the point that Fox's biggest stars prop up Trump on the air while trashing him in private. Maddow said "Hoax" is like a "Rosetta Stone" for the Trump era....

Bannon still talking with Trump?

When Stephen Bannon was indicted Thursday, Trump distanced himself from the ex-Breitbart chief and his former top strategist. But Jim Acosta reported Friday that the two appear to have remained in touch in recent months. One source told Acosta that Bannon, who pled not guilty after being arrested this week, boasted about convos with Trump as recently as a few months ago. And a campaign source told Acosta that the two spoke "weeks ago" for a few minutes. A WH spokesperson declined to comment...

>> On his "War Room" podcast, Bannon lashed out on Friday at the charges against him and called the entire thing a "political hit job..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

By Kerry Flynn:

-- Max Willens reports Spotify has a problem with counterfeit podcasts on its app Anchor… (Digiday)

-- The Verge’s Casey Newton shares his views on the tech press, Facebook and newsletter writing in Alex Kantrowitz’s new podcast… (OneZero)

-- Maya Kosoff writes about the "joy" of Google Alerts. She says they let her "keep an eye on what’s happening in media without having to faceplant into the confusing, toxic, screaming void that is Twitter…" (Study Hall)

Facebook readies for possible election chaos

Facebook is developing a plan to address various election scenarios that could play out come November. NYT's Mike Isaac and Sheera Frenkel reported Friday that Mark Zuckerberg and some of his lieutenants "are laying out contingency plans and walking through postelection scenarios that include attempts by Mr. Trump or his campaign to use the platform to delegitimize the results." According to Isaac and Frenkel, who cited sources familiar with Facebook's plans, the company has even discussed a "kill switch" to shut off political ads that could be used to spread misinfo...

>> Related: "With this talk of a 'kill switch,' the company appears to recognize the vast potential for harm from its policy of spreading falsehoods for cash," Nina Jankowicz writes for WIRED...

Big Tech's QAnon problem

Facebook and Twitter have both cracked down on QAnon, but CNN's Brian Fung argued in a Friday story that Big Tech's problems curtailing the extremist movement are just beginning. Fung pointed out that the action from Facebook and Twitter may have come too late, given that members of the QAnon movement are running for office. "Now," Fung wrote, "the tech companies find themselves in an even more difficult position: Having to reconcile their commitments to limit the spread of harmful content without appearing to censor the politicians who are directly involved in driving those messages to an ever-wider audience."

Three related stories

>> Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Collins have an excellent story about how QAnon "looms behind nationwide rallies and viral #SavetheChildren hashtags..."

>> Matt Gertz explains how Fox's "whitewash of Trump's QAnon endorsement helps explain how it happened in the first place..."

>> And, Mike Pence was asked about QAnon during TV interviews Friday. He expressed dissatisfaction with "spending time on a major network to talk about some conspiracy online theory" and later said he dismisses it "out of hand..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

By Kerry Flynn:

-- The Florida Times-Union editorial board apologized for "failing to adequately cover Ax Handle Saturday," a violent attack by White men against Black demonstrators back in 1960… (Florida Times-Union)

-- Stefanie Ritoper writes about "how giving parents cameras helped KPCC/LAist tell a different kind of pandemic story..." (Poynter)

-- Kurt Streeter will take over the Sports of The Times column in September… (NYT)

-- "CBS is asking for roughly $5.5 million for each 30-second ad in next year's Super Bowl," Frank Pallotta reports... (CNN Business)

Student newspapers aren't holding back

Kerry Flynn emails: "Don’t make us write obituaries," reads Friday’s front page of The Observer, the student newspaper for Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s and Holy Cross College. The editorial suggests student parties should not get the sole blame for the COVID-19 outbreak on campus. Rather, as the editorial says, “Flaws in testing, contact tracing and isolation and quarantine accommodations have since proven inefficient.”

The bold headline is reminiscent of a recent editorial in another student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel: “UNC has a clusterf**k on its hands.” These students are epitomizing good journalism by speaking truth to power. And importantly, The Observer is not just advocating for their own well-being, but acknowledging the greater impact. As The Observer’s EIC Maria Leontaras tweeted, "We aren’t just concerned for students. we’re also thinking of the faculty and staff who are working tirelessly to make sure students are safe and campus is clean. the tri-campus community includes more than just 20 year olds."

>> Kerry adds: I’ll be keeping my eyes out for more great student journalism as the school semester begins…

Weekend reads... 👓

By Katie Pellico:

-- ICYMI, Vanity Fair released this must-read excerpt of Brian's new book "Hoax," out August 25... (Vanity Fair)

-- The New Republic staff writer Alex Shephard unpacks "why the media is uniquely terrible at covering the U.S. Postal Service..." (TNR)

-- On "The Kicker" podcast, Amanda Darrach speaks with historian and professor Richard R. John and CJR editor and publisher Kyle Pope about "the intersection between the Postal Service and politics," and "how reporters should cover the battle..." (The Kicker)

-- Fortune's Rachel King interviewed independent booksellers about how USPS lags would hit them hard. "Unlike Amazon, we can't lose money for decades while growing marketshare, nor can we afford our own fleet of planes and vans and contractors, so USPS is crucial..." (Fortune)

-- The Daily Beast shows "how Fox News helped boost Bannon’s 'We Build the Wall' fiasco..." (Daily Beast)

-- The Atlantic staff writer Kaitlyn Tiffany illustrates "how the domestic aesthetics of Instagram repackage QAnon for the masses" in this report about "the women making conspiracy theories beautiful..." (The Atlantic)

-- NiemanLab director Joshua Benton explains why "Fortnite’s battle with Apple and Google could have an impact on news publishers, too..." (NiemanLab)

-- Kristen Hare shows how one Iowa newspaper is "covering Cedar Rapids’ derecho in the middle of a pandemic..." (Poynter)

-- A new report has found "surprising gaps and biases in news coverage by the Spanish-language media in the United States..." (Newmark J-School)

TODAY'S PET OF THE DAY

Milo the cat!

Alex Koppelman, our CNN Business managing editor emails about his feline friend: This is Milo. Milo's mostly a very sweet cat but he does have conflicting opinions about humans and his relations with them sometimes. For instance: Early on in the pandemic he didn't seem to care much about my working from home; now he cares so much that he's constantly interrupting it.

In this picture he's asking me to pet him, completely oblivous to the fact that he's typing while doing so. Also he likes making cameo appearances in video conferences. Is the fact that he often does so with his butt pointed directly at the camera deliberate on his part? I think probably.