Joe Muto, known as the "Fox Mole", is a former employee of

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

known for his leaks of material from the company to

Gawker ''Gawker'' is an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers and based in New York City focusing on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month as of 2015. Founded in ...

. Muto, a graduate of

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

, started work at Fox as a production assistant in July 2004 and became an associate producer for '' The O'Reilly Factor'', Bill O'Reilly's show, in January 2007.

"The Fox News Mole"

In April 2012, Muto started a column on

, "The Fox News Mole," in which he leaked gossip and unreleased footage from Fox News. According to Muto, he wanted to quit Fox News and work for Gawker, but Gawker staff instead proposed that he remain at Fox and leak material to them. To prove he worked at Fox News, Muto sent Gawker two Fox News outtakes: one was a discussion of horses by Sean Hannity and

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...

, and another was

Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U ...

having his hair done by his wife. Gawker paid him $5,000 for the material. The outtakes were posted publicly. According to Muto, he believed that only certain people in the New York City media industry would be interested in his column, but media attention spread nationally and to major news outlets. Fox News staff looked at the login information and found that Muto was the only person to recently access both videos. The company fired him.

Misdemeanor conviction and aftermath

On May 9, Muto pleaded guilty to two

misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...

charges: "attempted unlawful duplication of computer material" and "attempted criminal possession of computer material". He was sentenced to 200 hours of private community service, ten days of community service ordered by the court, and a fine of $1,000; he also gave up the $5,000 Gawker paid him to the court. Gawker paid for Muto's criminal defense. As part of his community service Muto cleaned municipal parks, and for his private community service he chose to assist a

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

literacy organization. Muto stated that he had "did something very stupid and I suppose it's right that I paid for it." He stated that he would not have leaked the material if he knew he would be criminally prosecuted for it. Gawker editor-in-chief John Cook criticized the sentence, accusing

Cyrus Vance Jr. Cyrus Roberts Vance Jr. (born June 14, 1954) is an American attorney and politician who served as the New York County District Attorney, District Attorney of Manhattan, New York County, New York (state), New York, also known as the Manhattan Dis ...

, the

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

of Manhattan, of trying to please Roger Ailes. Muto wrote the book '' An Atheist in the FOXhole'' chronicling his experiences at Fox.

References

External links

* Living people Fox News people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-tv-producer-stub