Last Monday, College Republicans launched a smear campaign against Associated Press news associate Emily Wilder for her pro-Palestinian activism as a college student.
The attacks were immediately picked up by conservative news outlets like Fox News and right-wing politicians like Sen. Tom Cotton.
Just two days later, Emily Wilder was fired.
Wilder’s firing has sparked a major backlash, with more than 100 AP staff signing an open letter condemning the decision. But The Intercept obtained memos from AP executives to staff doubling down and standing by the decision.
It’s not just AP reporters fearing for their jobs if they dare challenge Israeli policy. The Intercept reported that at least three Canadian journalists at major news outlets have been taken off the Middle East beat after signing an open letter criticizing pro-Israel bias in Canadian newsrooms. And we disclosed how journalists in Australia who also signed a letter on Israel-Palestine coverage are being told that they might not have their contracts renewed.
With at least 264 Palestinians, including at least 66 children, and 13 Israelis killed in the most recent wave of violence, critical reporting that challenges the pro-Israel consensus has never been more necessary. Yet mainstream outlets have continued to stick to the old playbook, holding reporters to an outdated notion of objectivity that favors the status quo.
The Intercept is different. From our inception, we’ve reported critically on the U.S.-Israel relationship, the occupation, and how opposing voices are silenced. During the recent escalation of violence, we reported directly from Gaza and Jerusalem on the Israeli attacks against Palestinian journalists and other stories.
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The bias against Palestine is nothing new in Western media. As Emily Wilder herself said in a statement issued Saturday, she is just “one victim to the asymmetrical enforcement of rules around objectivity and social media that has censored so many journalists — particularly Palestinian journalists and other journalists of color.”
But the silencing of pro-Palestinian voices does nothing to advance the cause of peace or increase public understanding of the conflict.
This is why The Intercept is so vital: Because far too many times we’ve seen mainstream news outlets bend to pressure from the government, advertisers, and other powerful forces, calling journalists off important stories and refusing to air dissenting voices.
Raising up voices that challenge the groupthink in Washington always invites attacks from those who benefit from the status quo. But that’s the job of journalism.
Reader donations are a key part of how The Intercept’s nonprofit newsroom is able to continue publishing journalism that confronts the mainstream consensus and changes the conversation.
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