Fox local reporter fired after on-air claim company bosses were ‘muzzling’ her

Project Veritas known for undercover operations against media organisations and political groups

A reporter for Houston’s FOX 26 channel has been fired after claiming live on air that her corporate bosses had been “muzzling” her.

Ivory Hecker interrupted her own weather broadcast to make the allegations about the news network and to say she had provided secret behind-the-scenes recordings to the right-wing Project Veritas group.

Now she has confirmed she has been sacked by the channel, after they earlier suspended her “effective immediately” and told “not to come to the station”, according to The Daily Beast.

“I have been longing to part ways with this strange, slightly unhinged corporation since last August when I realised what they were,” she said in a phone call with the website.

“The piece with Project Veritas doesn’t touch what they did. Fox 26 knows I’m fearless.”

Project Veritas, which is known for its undercover operations against mainstream media organisations and political groups, says that it has an interview with Ms Hecker that will be published later on Tuesday.

Ms Hecker has not spoken about what her recordings contain or what she will exactly allege against her employer, Fox Corp.

“I want to let you the viewers know that Fox Corp has been muzzling me to keep certain information from you,” said Ms Hecker, 32, during her Monday broadcast.

“From what I am 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.”

In April Project Veritas published video of a CNN producer, which it claimed showed the network pushed a pro-Biden agenda during the 2020 election.

An undercover Project Veritas employee went on a string of dates with CNN employee Charlie Chester, in which she secretly recorded their conversations.

A spokesperson for Project Veritas said that in the interview Ms Hecker will be “blowing the whistle” and explaining her view that corporate journalism is “broken.”

Ms Hecker’s Twitter bio still states that she is an employee of FOX 26 and incudes the phrase “A free press = a free people.”

The Independent has reached out to Ms Hecker for comment.

Ms Hecker earlier told Newsweek that her relationship with Fox took a “dark turn last August” after her interview with an unspecified person.

“They decided they didn’t like what the interview subject had said, and they went on to internally harass and defame me,” she said.

“I knew I was not working for a journalistic organisation when I was called into an HR meeting in December and was told to keep my support for free speech and opposition to censorship to myself – that those were not matters to be publicly spoken about.”

“True journalism can’t exist in an environment of censorship,” she added.

“True journalism needs an environment of free speech.”

The headline of this article was amended on June 16 2021 to remove an inaccurate mention of ‘News Corp’ and to replace it with ‘Fox Local’.