Fox News Reporter Claims Bitcoin Reporting Censored by Bosses
Local television presenter claims censorship, seeks help from Project Veritas
Local television presenter claims censorship, seeks help from Project Veritas
Houston-based Fox News reporter Ivory Hecker was on assignment, out in the wild, covering the heat wave overtaking the Texas city.
The segment was thrown to her on live television, complete with an air conditioner worker sweating in the background. Hecker took the anchor’s nod, and proceeded to begin the piece in that same sing-songy, self-important tone American local news reporters are known for all over the world.
With a captive audience in hand and no one back at the station paying too close attention, Hecker artfully announced she was being censored by her bosses and would soon reveal their skullduggery with help from Project Veritas. She then went on to file the segment as she might normally otherwise.
The stunt was clipped and went viral. Project Veritas has become infamous for its undercover gotcha reports of major news organization employees openly bragging about institutional biases. Often, an insider records higher ups candidly going off and admitting to being far from objective.
Hecker’s startling and coy foreshadowing had hallmarks of that kind of scenario, and many eagerly awaited for her revelations in what has become a well-worn scene of a Project Veritas’ James O'Keefe interview.
She soon appeared with O’Keefe, armed with Zoom-like recordings of her boss turning down story pitches. It’s not unusual for editors to refuse a topic. For example, the boss in this case rather coldly explains that Hecker's Bitcoin story idea is not going to fit with the 5pm format and viewer demographics.
Truthfully, it can be cringe to see/hear media sausage being made this way, but the Fox News segment producer seemed to be basically suggesting less about the subject matter’s nature and more about the show’s overall appeal as she saw it.
Hecker took this as censorship, and her Project Veritas interview conflates supposed Fox News story suppression with hot-button topics like Bitcoin and racism.
The Bitcoin angle, of which we are qualified to chime-in on, is interesting. We’re not above agreeing Bitcoin and crypto journalism within a mainstream context is often lacking. We can even believe literate takes are denied by editors who hold a grudge against stateless money.
Fox News 26 doesn’t seem to fit that mold. Just a cursory search found a recent Bitcoin segment on the local news site’s web page -- more than 4 minutes long (an eternity for that format) and hosted by an African-American, no less.
The editor, in clips from Hecker, makes an exasperated case that such subject matter doesn’t do particularly well, and so she’s tired of the same old stale story ideas. Again, that’s not revelatory in our line of work.
Presumed sympathetic outlets to Hecker’s claims, like Newsmax and Hot Air, shared our head-scratching at all the fuss (again, we’re champing at the bit to expose anti-crypto censorship).
Hecker was suspended that day by the station and then formally fired. Those concerned about Hecker’s claims and fate raised more than $170,000 to ease her transition to unemployment (we’re assuming little-to-none is in Bitcoin).
The same way Bitcoin doesn’t need a marketing team or official influencers, it also doesn’t need artificially-imposed victimology. There’s plenty of real FUD to go around.
World Bank Throws Shade at El Salvador
You want FUD? Reuters had a juicy follow-up scoop to a major Bitcoin headline. Fresh off news the Central American nation of El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender, the World Bank explained, “We are committed to helping El Salvador in numerous ways, including for currency transparency and regulatory processes. While the government did approach us for assistance on bitcoin, this is not something the World Bank can support given the environmental and transparency shortcomings.” Are they really concerned about the environment, or is more about control?
China Mining Crackdown Continues
Earlier this week, major mining pool operator Jiang Zhuoer found a silver-lining in China’s crackdown on mining, insisting, “Now all the mining facilities in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Qinghai provinces have been shut down, only hydropower mining farms in Sichuan are left. Currently the clean energy usage by #Bitcoin miners already exceeds 50%.”
The celebration was short-lived, as today the Sichuan government joined these other Chinese provinces in ordering local bitcoin mining operations to shut down.
There’s a tiny amount of hope miners will be able to restart their operations after inspections, according to CoinDesk, but government pronouncements have left little room for interpretation.
We discussed the issue on The Hash today:
Sichuan Orders Bitcoin Miner Operations to Shutdown
Chess Influencer Alexandra Botez Launches Ethereum Podcast
World class chess player Alexandra Botez is diving ever-deeper into cryptocurrency with a new podcast. She’s a well-known streamer who brings a wholesome Zoomer sensibility to the game of kings, popularizing chess for an entirely new audience. Engaging, funny, she and her younger sister use media to advance the game’s beauty while having a good time. She even managed to rope-in Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin for a stream. It was beyond cute, and viewers were given a softer, less-confident Buterin in a totally different context. Botez’ move toward crypto is a bullish, anti-FUD sign for the future.
Bitcoin Turns to Astrology
Bitcoin is for everyone. That’s a feature and a bug, depending on who is doing the analysis. We’re inclined to welcome all, keeping the proper skeptical perspective about low-barrier-to-entry-industries: by definition, scammers will abound. Some find that ecumenical outlook enabling, too tolerant. We like Bitcoin weird and accepting. It adds flavor. Again, without endorsing it, a Washington Post profile of TikTok astrologist Maren Altman is just enough to make us smile. Whereas Botez is sober, inviting, and illuminating, Altman is self-important, often gloomy, and serious. Let your freak flag fly.
NFT Community Subject of Phishing Attacks
Scams in crypto aren’t always so obvious. Recently, anon dev FVCKRENDER asked “who got Hacked with the SCR file? please put your name down here with proof, or if you know someone.” The SCR file extension was developed by Microsoft for Windows screen savers and is stored in the main directory. Replies to FVCKRENDER’s query are worth reading. It appears the graphic-heavy non-fungible token (NFT) community is being lured into phishing attacks. Unsuspecting NFT enthusiasts download and open a malicious file, which winds up basically owning the device, stealing wallets, passwords, and more. Careful out there.
By C. Edward Kelso, NBTV Head Writer