“Less than 48 hours later, The A.P. fired me,” she said. “The reason given was my supposed violations of The A.P.’s social media policy sometime between my first day and Wednesday. In that interim, powerful conservatives like Senator Tom Cotton, Ben Shapiro and Robert Spencer repeatedly lambasted me online. When I asked my managers which exact tweets were in violation of policy or how, they refused to tell me.”
Ms. Wilder, who is Jewish, had tweeted during her time at The A.P. about the conflict involving Israelis and Palestinians. In one tweet, she said that “using ‘israel’ but never ‘palestine,’ or ‘war’ but not ‘siege and occupation’ are political choices — yet media make those exact choices all the time without being flagged as biased.”
Dozens of A.P. journalists signed an open letter after Ms. Wilder’s firing, criticizing the news agency and asking for clarification on how she had violated the company’s social media policy.
“The lack of clarity on the violations of the social media policy has made A.P. journalists afraid to engage on social media — often critical to our jobs — in any capacity,” the letter said.
Ten newsroom leaders responded Monday in a memo to the staff announcing a plan to review its guidelines. They said that formal groups would discuss ideas and make recommendations, and a committee of staff members would review the recommendations by Sept. 1. Any changes to the policy would then be raised in the next round of contract negotiations with the union that represents A.P. employees, the News Media Guild.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/25/business/media/emily-wilder-associated-press-ap.html
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