Local Fox Reporter: I Got Fired After My On-Air Project Veritas Stunt
Ivory Hecker told The Daily Beast on Tuesday that she’s been terminated after claiming on-air that the station has “muzzled” her.
Diana Falzone Contributing Reporter
Justin Baragona Contributing Editor
Updated Jun. 15, 2021
Fox 26 Houston general assignment reporter Ivory Hecker said Tuesday that she has been fired after interrupting a live on-air report to accuse her employers of “muzzling” her.
Hecker went viral on Monday when she began a live report about the weather by revealing that she provided secret recordings to right-wing activist group Project Veritas supposedly proving corruption and censorship at her station.
A local Fox reporter interrupted her live on-air weather report on Monday evening to accuse the station’s parent company, Fox Corp., of “muzzling” her while announcing that the notorious far-right activist group Project Veritas will release her secret recordings of the station on Tuesday.
Ivory Hecker, a general assignment reporter for Fox 26 in Houston, was all set to do a live on-location hit to discuss how the recent heatwave in Texas has affected power outages across the viewing area. Before turning to the local weather, however, Hecker had a bombshell of her own for viewers and her colleagues.
“Before we get to that story, I want to let you, the viewers, know that Fox Corp. has been muzzling me to keep certain information from you, the viewers,” Hecker casually declared. “And from what I’m gathering, I am not the only reporter being subjected to this.”
“I am going to be releasing some recordings about what goes on behind the scenes at Fox, because it applies to you, the viewers,” she added. “I found a non-profit journalism group called Project Veritas that is going to help put that out tomorrow, so tune in then.”
And just as nonchalantly as she revealed that she had dropped a dime on her employer to right-wing provocateur James O’Keefe’s organization, Hecker went right back to delivering her live report on the blistering Texas heat. The channel’s two on-set anchors, meanwhile, did not address Hecker’s jaw-dropping remarks following her segment.
A spokesperson for Project Veritas confirmed to The Daily Beast that the group will be publishing a sit-down interview with Hecker on Tuesday evening. Besides interviewing the reporter about her claims of corruption related to Fox, Project Veritas said it will also publish some of Hecker’s recordings and videos that she says back up her allegations.
Recently, Project Veritas—best known for its undercover “sting” operations on media outlets and liberal political organizations—and O’Keefe have both been permanently suspended from Twitter. A spokesperson for the social media platform said in April that O’Keefe was booted for “violating the Twitter Rules on platform manipulation and spam.”
While O’Keefe has long been a favorite of Fox News over the years for what he describes as his exposés of CNN and The Washington Post, it will be interesting how the conservative-leaning network will handle this latest supposed sting video.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/local-fox-reporter-ivory-hecker-suspended-for-live-on-air-project-veritas-stunt?via=newsletter&source=CSPMedition
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