SPRINGFIELD — A Springfield news station has denied firing or suspended anyone in recent months, despite claims from a former employee who said otherwise.
Beni Harmony has garnered widespread attention after she claimed to have been suspended from WICS-TV Channel 20 for airing a “non-partisan tribute to Charlie Kirk” before she resigned, she wrote on her X account on Sept. 15.
Reached by The State Journal-Register, Heather Nodine, who is news director for the formerly Sinclair-owned station, said the station has not suspended or fired anyone in the past 90 days, though she was unable to comment on Harmony’s situation specifically.
Harmony was a sales employee whose job was to produce and anchor Marketplace, a sales-based program that features clients who pay to have interviews on the air, Nodine said.
Harmony was not employed as a journalist and never worked within the station’s news department, Nodine added.
Harmony spoke about Charlie Kirk live on Sept. 12, but Nodine was unable to comment further about the segment as Nodine does not oversee Marketplace and did not supervise Harmony.
Harmony faced the camera and talked about losing “a mentor, my first boss, the first person who made me believe in myself, that encouraged me to chase this dream that you’re watching right now — Charlie Kirk,” she said, crying.
Harmony said in the segment that she worked with Kirk, going on to quote one of her favorite sayings of his, “that Charlie would always tell at the office. He would tell it from the mountain-tops, so please listen,” she said, going on to quote the conservative influencer and Illinois native.
Harmony was initially reached by The State Journal Register Sept. 15 on Facebook, but has not responded further.
A message to Turning Point USA was not immediately returned.
Harmony’s LinkedIn page says she worked at Turning Point USA in the Washington D.C.-Baltimore area from August 2021 to February 2022 as a producer and administrator.
Kirk founded Turning Point in 2012, according to the nonprofit’s site, with a mission to “identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.
(This story was updated to change the featured image.)
Tom Ackerman covers breaking news and trending news along with general news for the Springfield State Journal-Register. He can be reached at tackerman@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: News station denies suspending former Springfield TV anchor over Charlie Kirk comments
Reporting by Tom Ackerman, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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