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'Fox Mole' At Gawker Is Revealed, Fired

The Fox Mole, before his suspension.
Gawker
The Fox Mole, before his suspension.

We had steered clear of this topic the past few days because his posts certainly haven't been family-friendly material.

But now "The Fox Mole" who was filing dispatches for Gawker from inside Fox News Channel's operations in New York City has been uncovered.

So if you're interested in seeing what O'Reilly Factor associate producer Joe Muto had to say this week about what it's like working for Fox News, you might start here. He doesn't have a high opinion of what goes on there. Fair warning: There's some graphic content and language.

His undoing, Muto says, was "the digital trail that gave me away" and led Fox executives to conclude he had been the source for two videos that showed up on Gawker. And yes, he concedes that he is "a weasel, a traitor, a sell-out and every bad word you can throw at me."

Muto reports he's been "suspended indefinitely ... with pay, oddly enough."

Update at 10:50 a.m. ET. Fox Says He's Been Fired:

Our original headline said Muto had been suspended. The Associated Press now reports that Fox News has released a statement saying saying Muto was fired after the network determined he was "the main culprit" behind the Gawker posts. According to the AP, the network said it "was continuing to explore legal recourse against Mr. Muto and possibly others."

We've updated the headline.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.