Jamaican American Jason Hackett anchors the morning KOCO5 News Weekday television program in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, along with co-anchors Shelby Cashman, Alejandra Briones, and meteorologist Jonathan Conder. A telecommunications graduate from the University of Florida, Hackett previously worked as a reporter at the NBC affiliate WPTV in West Palm Beach, Florida. In this position, he covered some of the biggest news stories in the United States, including the massacres at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. He also covered former President Donald Trump when he traveled to his resort at Mar-a-Lago. Hackett joined KOCO 5 News in 2018 as a morning anchor and reporter on weekend mornings. He then anchored the station’s newscast at 4:30 a.m.
Hackett began his high school career planning to become an aerospace engineer, but changed paths and became a journalist instead. In 2011, after graduating from the University of Florida, he moved to Panama City to work with WMBB News 13, the market’s ABC affiliate. He worked as a beat reporter for Walton County, Panama City Beach, and Panama City. In 2013, he joined KGAN/KXFA in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which was the first time he had lived outside of his home state of Florida.
An award-winning journalist, Hackett was recognized along with the 6 p.m. news team at KOCO 5 by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters as the Best Evening Newscast, and he and the morning news team at KOCO 5 were honored by the Association for being the Best Morning Newscast.
Among the breaking news stories Hackett has covered is the May 2019 Devon Tower incident in which window workers were left dangling in the wind for hours before being rescued. He also developed investigative reporting segments in which he took his viewers inside Oklahoma prisons. He won 2021 Outstanding achievement in Broadcasting television morning news from the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters (OAB).
Hackett’s interests outside of Oklahoma news include working out at the gym, watching professional wrestling and reading everything about it, and discovering the best places to eat in the local area.
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