Felicia Sonmez Is Fired by The Washington Put up

Felicia Sonmez, a reporter for The Washington Put up who in current days has been on the middle of a debate over the group’s social media insurance policies and the tradition of the newsroom, was fired on Thursday, based on three folks with data of the matter who spoke on […]

Felicia Sonmez, a reporter for The Washington Put up who in current days has been on the middle of a debate over the group’s social media insurance policies and the tradition of the newsroom, was fired on Thursday, based on three folks with data of the matter who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate personnel issues.

Ms. Sonmez was fired over electronic mail on Thursday afternoon, based on one of many folks. In an emailed termination letter, which was seen by The New York Occasions, Ms. Sonmez was instructed that The Put up was ending her employment, efficient instantly, “for misconduct that features insubordination, maligning your co-workers on-line and violating The Put up’s requirements on office collegiality and inclusivity.”

The e-mail, from Wayne Connell, the Put up’s chief human sources officer, additionally stated Ms. Sonmez’s “public makes an attempt to query the motives of your co-journalists” undermined The Put up’s repute.

“We can not will let you proceed to work as a journalist representing The Washington Put up,” the letter stated.

Ms. Sonmez’s inside Slack account was deactivated by Thursday afternoon, based on a screenshot seen by The Occasions. Reached by telephone, Ms. Sonmez stated {that a} assertion can be coming from The Washington Put up Newspaper Guild.

The guild’s assertion stated it could not touch upon particular person personnel issues. “We symbolize and supply assist to all members going through self-discipline,” it stated. The information that Ms. Sonmez was now not employed by The Put up was reported earlier by The Each day Beast.

Ms. Sonmez, a nationwide political reporter, sued the paper and several other high editors final 12 months, saying they’d discriminated towards her by barring her from masking tales about sexual assault after she had publicly recognized herself as a sufferer of assault. The case was dismissed in March, with the decide noting that The Put up had attributed the protection bans to not her being a sufferer of sexual assault however to considerations that her public statements had created an look of bias. Ms. Sonmez’s lawyer on the time stated she deliberate to attraction.

Previously week, she has been on the middle of a public firestorm over the newsroom’s tradition. On Friday, Dave Weigel, a political reporter on the paper, retweeted a sexist joke that implied girls have been both bisexual or bipolar. Ms. Sonmez then tweeted, “Improbable to work at a information outlet the place retweets like this are allowed!”

Mr. Weigel apologized for the tweet. On Monday, he was suspended by The Put up for a month with out pay, based on an individual with data of the matter.

Ms. Sonmez then obtained right into a Twitter disagreement with Jose A. Del Actual, a reporter who acknowledged Mr. Weigel’s tweet was “unacceptable” however admonished Ms. Sonmez for “rallying the web to assault” Mr. Weigel. Mr. Del Actual later despatched a number of tweets concerning an “unrelenting sequence of assaults” towards him, and Ms. Sonmez questioned why The Put up had not completed something to reprimand him for his tweets about her, together with one which stated she had engaged in “repeated and focused public harassment of a colleague.”

Within the following days, Ms. Sonmez wrote quite a few posts on Twitter concerning the newsroom tradition at The Put up and what she stated was the uneven approach its social media coverage was utilized to totally different reporters. At occasions she jousted with fellow journalists at The Put up on Twitter.

Many within the newsroom supported Ms. Sonmez all through her lawsuit and have been grateful to her for her advocacy for sexual abuse victims, based on two present Put up staff, however the sentiment started to shift this week as she continued to tweet about The Put up.

Some felt Ms. Sonmez was hurting the establishment and disagreed together with her use of public boards to criticize co-workers, the folks stated.

Others took difficulty together with her response to an electronic mail from the nationwide editor, Matea Gold, who had urged folks to take care of their psychological well being within the wake of the shootings final month in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas.

Ms. Sonmez despatched a reply-all to the newsroom saying that she had as soon as been punished after telling an editor she wanted to take a stroll after studying a troublesome story.

Ms. Sonmez defended herself in one other set of tweets on Thursday morning, earlier than she was fired, saying, “I care deeply about my colleagues, and I need this establishment to supply assist for all staff. Proper now, the Put up is a spot the place many people concern our trauma will probably be used towards us, based mostly on the corporate’s previous actions.”

The fracas has amounted to one thing of a management take a look at for Sally Buzbee, who grew to become the chief editor of The Put up final June. Ms. Buzbee wrote two memos to the newsroom prior to now week asking for colleagues to not assault one another on social media.

“The newsroom social media coverage factors particularly to the necessity for collegiality,” Ms. Buzbee wrote in an electronic mail on Tuesday.

Benjamin Mullin contributed reporting.

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