Marisa Mendelson says she was fired from Tucson NBC affiliate KVOA for using the live streaming app Periscope.
Mendelson, who started at KVOA in March 2014, told TVSpy she used the app to live stream herself answering “basic questions” and playing her guitar. She said she was told to “stop using periscope” until KVOA could come up with a social media policy about it.
She later live streamed shots of her dog snoring while it was sleeping. She said she was called into the gm’s office on June 10 and told she was “insubordinate” and the station was “parting ways” with her because of it.
Mendelson admits she “did disobey” but adds other employees had been using the app without being told not to.
“Getting fired for Periscoping a video of a dog is ridiculous,” Mendelson told .mic. “I’d never been in trouble or been written up before.”
“That’s another reason why social media is incredible right now — it’s a way for journalists to have a voice,” said Mendelson. “Freedom of speech is protected to a point, and the First Amendment was created to give reporters power and give a voice to the voiceless. But when a journalist gets fired, who gives a voice to that journalist?”