The Associated Press circulated a memo to its staff after more than 100 of its journalists signed a letter questioning the motivations for firing former news associate Emily Wilder, who was let go by the service after two weeks of work allegedly because of a social media post supporting the Palestinian cause in the recent Gaza conflict, the AP reports.
The 22-year-old Wilder, who covered news in the Western United States from her location in Phoenix, reportedly violated the AP’s rules about expressing a personal opinion about a controversial current event. In a statement following her firing, Wilder said that she was being harassed by young Republicans’ club from her alma mater, Stanford, “by an onslaught of harassment against me.”
The AP said it was undertaking a review of its policies to ensure employees had the ability to exercise their First Amendment rights without being seen as biased journalists.
“One of the issues brought forward in recent days is the belief that restrictions on social media prevent you from being your true self, and that this disproportionately harms journalists of color, LGBTQ journalists and others who often feel attacked online,” the memo said. “We need to dive into this issue.”
In the letter of support for Wilder, the journalists said that they were concerned that a campaign of smear tactics based on social media posts she made before she joined the Associated Press.
“AP is in the business of fact-based journalism,” the service said in the memo. “It is who we are. We have these values to ensure we maintain our position as an unbiased source of information and to protect our journalists.”