West Virginia journalist fired after investigating alleged abuse at state facilities

A West Virginia journalist was fired final month after exposing alleged abuse of disabled folks within the state’s well being company.

Amelia Ferrell Knisely stated she had been warned to cease reporting on allegations that the West Virginia Division of Well being and Human Assets was hiding data on the remedy of disabled individuals in state care within the weeks earlier than she was let go from her part-time job at West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

“I used to be let go from my job at WVPB final week following threats from DHHR about my reporting on DHHR’s remedy of individuals with disabilities,” she wrote on Twitter Dec. 28.

Final month, Knisely printed that an advocacy group was accusing the state of failing to correctly institutionalize disabled individuals. The state, the group alleged, was “‘affected person dumping’ or ‘warehousing sufferers’ by permitting them to stay unnecessarily institutionalized,” she wrote.

She additionally reported on a letter Republican Senate President Craig Blair despatched to Gov. Jim Justice asking for a proper probe into the allegations.

The fired reporter stated leaders on the Well being and Human Assets division had “threatened to discredit” WVPB, a publicly funded tv and radio community.

As a substitute, Knisely was allegedly let go.

“It’s essential for the press to carry authorities companies accountable,” Knisely stated in an announcement Tuesday. “It have to be emphasised that these occasions adopted my reporting on the mistreatment of individuals with disabilities, who’re in state care.”

She claimed the order got here from WVPB Government Director Butch Antolini, the previous communications director for the Justice. Antolini stepped as much as the job in 2021 — his predecessor was ousted after Justice overhauled the company’s governing board. Justice himself had a historical past of making an attempt to eradicate the annual $4 million in state funding for WVPB.

Antolini has not commented on Knisely, however different officers denied any effort to affect protection.

West Virginia Academic Broadcasting Authority chairman William H. File III claims Knisely was not fired and nonetheless stays on the station’s payroll. He famous that Antolini “was not coerced or pressured by anybody.”

Knisely claims the state requested her for a “full retraction” on a narrative she wrote in November, one month after she was employed at WVPB.

Although that didn’t occur, her information director, Eric Douglas, advised her she might now not cowl the state’s Well being and Human Assets division as a result of the state was threatening to discredit the community.

Knisely filed a human sources criticism about interference together with her reporting on Dec. 15, however was advised simply 5 days later that part-time positions have been being eradicated. Her e-mail and key card stopped working round that point.

With Submit Wires