AP claps back at staffer fired over anti-Semitic tweets, journalists 'cannot take sides in public forums'

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Media top headlines May 21

Fallout for CNN's Chris Cuomo after he inappropriately advised his brother Andrew on handling harassment allegations and more round today's top media headlines.

The Associated Press clapped back at former news associate Emily Wilder after she said the outlet made her a "scapegoat" and "sacrifice" by firing her for violating their social media policy.  

Wilder was dismissed after just 17 days on the job when pro-Palestinian social media posts she wrote during college went viral. 

ASSOCIATED PRESS FIRES REPORTER AFTER PRO-PALESTINIAN SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS FROM COLLEGE GO VIRAL

Stanford College Republicans drew attention to her activism on Twitter, where she called the Jewish student travel program Birthright "nothing more than ethnic nationalist propaganda," and accused Israel of engaging in "the ethnic cleansing and displacement of Palestinians in Palestine." 

Wilder also referred to late Jewish donor Sheldon Adelson as a "naked mole rat-looking billionaire." 

Wilder said in a statement on Twitter that the AP had made her a "scapegoat" rather than making her "misstep" a "teaching opportunity." 

She went on to lambast the AP for firing her, saying the outlet "would sacrifice those with the least power to the cruel trolling of a group of anonymous bullies."

ASSOCIATED PRESS' ROUGH WEEK CONTINUES AFTER REPORT IT HIRED ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVIST AS NEWS ASSOCIATE

The AP clapped back, saying the outlet "generally refrains from commenting on personal matters," but confirmed Wilder’s assertion that she was dismissed "for violations of AP’s social media policy." 

The AP statement went on to say "We have this policy so the comments of one person cannot create dangerous conditions for our journalists covering the story."

"Every AP journalist is responsible for safeguarding our ability to report on this conflict, or any other, with fairness and credibility, and cannot take sides in public forms," the statement concluded.   

Wilder said AP would not tell her which posts violated their social media policy and that she was "victim to the asymmetrical enforcement of rules around objectivity and social media that has censored so many journalists." 

The News Media Guild, the union representing AP employees, said they were "alarmed" that Wilder was not given an explanation of "how exactly she violated the company's social media policy," in a statement Saturday. 

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The Guild noted that because Wilder was fired during her probationary period, there are no grounds for a grievance, but "there are concrete actions the union can and will take in response." 

The Guild said there was a "lack of transparency" surrounding the issue of Wilder's firing, which has allowed the conversation to be "filled with misinformation and disinformation." 

Fox News' Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.