The AP embattled. The Associated Press’ decision to fire a young Jewish journalist, Emily Wilder, over violations of its social media policy that it says took place after she became an employee is drawing fire from its own staffers.
■ Reviewing the AP’s history, The Intercept concludes the firing “was clearly in response to a right-wing pressure campaign targeting Wilder for her activism in college supporting Palestinian rights.”
■ In her first TV interview since the dismissal, Wilder tells interviewer Amy Goodman: “This experience … could have made me question my commitment … to do journalism, but I will not yield.”
■ Laura Wagner at The Defector complains that the Wilder case highlights the “hideously stupid expectation that reporters must harbor no strong opinions about the things they care about.”
■ A federal judge says a Georgia law forbidding the state from doing business with anyone promoting a boycott of Israel runs afoul of the First Amendment.
■ The Onion jokes: “AP Fires Journalist At Palestinian Civilians.”
‘Having racist ideas or sharing racist ideas is something that we actually protect.’ A senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union sounds an alarm about the arrest of a white Connecticut high school student accused of posting racist comments about a Black classmate on Snapchat …
■ … but, he says, the ACLU would be OK with discipline for that student on grounds he interfered with the education of the Black student …
■ … whose mother says she now fears for her sons’ safety at school.
A Disney loophole. Despite criticism that it violates the First Amendment, Florida’s governor has signed a law forbidding social media companies from blocking political candidates and “conservative ideas” on their platforms.
■ But it exempts companies that own theme parks—like the Walt Disney Co., owner of Disney World, and Comcast, which operates Universal Orlando.
■ Encouraged by the conservative Heartland Institute, Georgia lawmakers are mulling a similar proposal.
■ Maine’s legislature is considering a plan to increase transparency for political websites masquerading as straight news sites.
■ The New York Times podcast The Daily dives into the still-pending Supreme Court case of a high school cheerleader suspended from her squad after posting a critical and expletive-filled video to Snapchat.
■ An Indiana state appeals court says the First Amendment provides no protection for a woman convicted under the state’s telephone-harassment law after she’d peppered her husband’s former employer with voicemail messages including, “Revenge is best served cold in Jesus’s name.”
■ Religious Freedom Center Fellow Richard Foltin says courts seem increasingly reluctant to enforce COVID-19 vaccination mandates over religious objections.
■ A Christian therapist has filed a federal lawsuit alleging Washington State’s ban on sexual-orientation counseling for minors violates his First Amendment rights.