This undated photo shows former West Virginia Public Broadcasting reporter Amelia Ferrell Knisely. Knisely was let go from her job at WVPB on Dec. 20, 2022, after she wrote about the alleged abuse of people with disabilities at the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services. (Amelia Ferrell Knisely via AP)

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia journalist lost her job after she reported about alleged abuse of people with disabilities in state care. Amelia Ferrell Knisely, a reporter at West Virginia Public Broadcasting, said she was told to stop reporting on the Department of Health and Human Resources after agency leaders “threatened to discredit” the publicly-funded television and radio network. She later learned her part-time position was being eliminated. Knisely said her news director told her the order came from WVPB Executive Director Butch Antolini, former communications director for Republican Gov. Jim Justice. Antolini declined to comment, but other officials denied any effort to influence coverage.