Fox 26 reporter Ivory Hecker was suspended and eventually fired from her job after going off-script during a live report on Monday where she claimed that the news company was "muzzling" her and preventing her from reporting on "certain information." This week, she blew the whistle on how the news company has been preventing reporters from covering stories about hydroxychloroquine and how it could help COVID-19 patients.
According to The Blaze, Hecker was formerly a general assignment reporter who during a live on-air report said, "I want to let you, the viewers know that Fox Corp. has been muzzling me to keep certain information from you, the viewers 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," Hecker declared on air in a now-viral clip. "I found a non-profit journalism group called Project Veritas that's gonna help put that out tomorrow so tune into them."
On Tuesday morning, Hecker was suspended. The 32-year-old reporter told The Daily Beast that she then received a text message from Fox 26 saying that she had been terminated. She decided to never work in corporate media again after leaving what she called a "strange, slightly unhinged corporation," which she said she had longed to part ways with since August of last year. She also concluded that all media companies "toe the same line" to create the same narrative.
The Project Veritas expose did come out, however, and it showed Fox 26 assistant news director Lee Meier and news director Susan Schiller in a conversation with Hecker where she was told she "failed as a reporter" for failing to look into the "new research" on hydroxychloroquine before boosting a post from a local doctor who was promoting the anti-malarial drug as a cure for COVID-19.
"You need to cease and desist posting about hydroxychloroquine," Schiller ordered Hecker. The Fox 26 reporter claims that she was "banned permanently from from covering COVID-19 medical treatments" after she was sent to interview Dr. Joseph Varon, a respected doctor who had been in over a thousand interviews and had seen success in using hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients.
"The viewers are being deceived by a carefully crafted narrative in some stories," Hecker said, as reported by Project Veritas. "What's happening within Fox Corp is an operation of prioritizing corporate interests above the viewer's interest and, therefore, operating in a deceptive way."
The expose also showed a Project Veritas staffer speaking to a Fox 26 sales coordinator and promo producer in a bar, where one of the Fox 26 employees admitted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was one of the station's paid advertisers. When asked if it's possible that the CDC is influencing journalism at the station, the sales coordinator said it was a possibility.
"Yeah, they [CDC] are spending money. They are spending money because they can," the sales coordinator told an undercover Project Veritas staffer. "Yeah, they can. They [CDC] are in the pocket. You know? They're there."
Those who want to know more should watch James O'Keefe's interview with Ivory Hecker at Project Veritas.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ivory Hecker's mom Renee launched a crowdfunding effort to raise funds for her daughter, who has been fired from Fox 26 for exposing the truth. Those who want to support Ivory, either by donating funds or praying for her can do so via GiveSendGo.com/SupportIvory. The campaign has rasied more than $158K as of writing time.
