How the AP wronged Emily Wilder
As we have said, though AP generally refrains from commenting on personnel matters, we have confirmed Emily Wilder’s comments on Thursday that she was dismissed for violating AP’s social media policy during her time at AP.
We understand that other news organizations may not have made the same decision. While many news organizations offer points of view, opinion columnists and editorials, AP does not. We don’t express opinion. Our bedrock is fact-based, unbiased reporting.
Because we’re a global news organization, we recognize that expressing opinion in one part of the world can compromise our ability to report a story in another. It can limit our access to sources and information. In some cases it could endanger our journalists on the ground. So we do our best to protect against even the perception of bias.
To that end, every AP journalist is responsible for safeguarding our ability to report with fairness and credibility. Our News Values and Principles, including our social media guidelines, exist to ensure that the comments of one person cannot jeopardize our journalism or our journalists.
