"I want to let you the viewers know that Fox Corp has been muzzling me."
A Houston Fox 26 reporter went off-script live on air to claim that the network was "muzzling" her.
Ivory Hecker made the allegation at the very start of her piece to camera as the studio went to her live to report on the heatwave that is currently taking place in Texas.
Before reporting on the scorching temperatures, she told viewers that the network, owned by Fox Broadcasting Company, had been pressuring her to keep "certain information" from them. She said that she was not alone in this and would be releasing "recordings about what goes on behind the scenes."
Hecker said: "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. And from what I’m gathering, I am not the only reporter being subjected to this," she said.
"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 explained that she would share these recordings with far-right group Project Veritas, who are infamous for producing deceptively-edited videos of their undercover operations against mainstream media organisations and left-leaning groups.
"I found a non-profit journalism group called Project Veritas who’s going to help put that out tomorrow," she added. "So, tune into them."
https://twitter.com/MatthewTyrmand/status/1404582290211147777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1404582290211147777%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Fivory-hecker-fox-houston-26-muzzling-1600640
In a statement to
Newsweek, the reporter said that her relationship with Fox took a "dark turn last August" after her interview with an unspecified person.
She told the news magazine: "They decided they didn't like what the interview subject had said, and they went on to internally harass and defame me.
"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. True journalism needs an environment of free speech."
It remains to be seen what she's going to reveal, but it's probably safe to say that if even Fox didn't want it published, it's not going to be 'true journalism'.
