Washington Post suspends reporter who retweeted joke
‘The Five’ discuss The Washington Post melting down over a retweeted ‘sexist’ joke from one of their reporters.
The Washington Post terminated its reporter Felicia Sonmez on Thursday after she waged war against the paper and her colleagues with tweetstorms for nearly an entire week.
Fox News confirmed that Sonmez is no longer with the paper. A spokesperson for the Post declined to comment. Sonmez did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
Earlier in the day, Sonmez took a flamethrower to fellow staffers in another lengthy series of tweets, attacking those who had posted recent, strikingly similar messages of support for their paper.
"I don’t know who the colleagues anonymously disparaging me in media reports are. But I do know that the reporters who issued synchronized tweets this week downplaying the Post’s workplace issues have a few things in common with each other," Sonmez wrote during a lengthy Twitter thread.
THE WASHINGTON POST'S WEEK FROM HELL
"They are all white - They are among the highest-paid employees in the newsroom, making double and even triple what some other National desk reporters are making, particularly journalists of color - They are among the ‘stars’ who ‘get away with murder’ on social media," Sonmez tweeted. "Of course the Washington Post is a great workplace. It is a great workplace *for them.* The system is working *for them.* What about for everyone else? The General Assignment team? The Morning Mix team? The newsletter researchers?"
Sonmez insisted there have been "long-standing issues" within the Post that have not been addressed and that will only continue, even if the media will move on from "trivializing" them as a "Twitter spat."
During her latest Twitter rant, Sonmez also said she was once punished "after I told my editors I needed to take a walk around the block after reading a difficult story," claimed "other colleagues have been punished for their trauma far more recently," declared the paper's actions are discouraging staffers from seeking "help they need," said "the Post is a place where many of us fear our trauma will be used against us, based on the company’s past actions" and declared "long-standing problems at the company" have caused "employee retention problems."
Washington Post national political reporter Felicia Sonmez was fired from the paper following several days of fueling attacks towards her colleagues on Twitter.
As a result of recent infighting, Washington Post executive editor Sally Buzbee issued a memo to staff this week urging them to "treat each other with respect and kindness," which apparently fell on deaf ears. Sonmez continued her barrage of attacks on Post reporter Jose Del Real as well as her editors, accusing them of selectively enforcing social media policies.
"In this newsroom, we share many important common values: a belief in the power of journalism. Hatred of racist or sexist behavior, language or systems. A conviction that when people come together in good faith, with respect and trust, it creates an environment that enables each person to do powerful and important work. We also occasionally disagree: We come from different backgrounds and experiences, and we each see the world differently. That combination of shared values and diversity of viewpoints is our greatest strength," Buzbee began the memo obtained by Fox News Digital.
Buzbee then listed policies the Post will enforce "in the strongest of terms."
"We do not tolerate colleagues attacking colleagues either face to face or online," Buzbee wrote. "Respect for others is critical to any civil society, including our newsroom. The newsroom social media policy points specifically to the need for collegiality."
She continued, "We also do not tolerate violations of our Policy Prohibiting Workplace Harassment and our Policy on Prohibition of Discrimination, which further set forth our expectations for employees and are designed to create an inclusive environment where all Post employees can perform their best work."
Washington Post executive editor Sally Buzbee issued multiple memos to staff hoping to quell the viral hostility among colleagues. (Celeste Sloman for the Washington Post) (Celeste Sloman for the Washington Post)
Several Washington Post staffers took to Twitter to show solidarity in response to the memo, many of them echoing the same sentiment that the paper "isn't perfect" but praising colleagues as being "collegial" and expressing how they are "proud" to work there.
On Tuesday, in a second memo attempting to quell tensions in the newsroom, Buzbee urged employees to be "collegial" to one another.
In addition to her colleagues, Sonmez also ripped onlookers who have been wryly critical of her onslaught.
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"To those bizarrely attacking me for speaking out, or snidely saying things like 'Day 7' — of course I’m still speaking out. This is about systemic issues that run far deeper than a single tweet by any employee. Pushing for change takes far longer than 7 days," Sonmez added.
The drama stemmed from a spat between Sonmez and fellow reporter Dave Weigel, whom she had publicly shamed for retweeting a joke that mocked women; Weigel was ultimately suspended for one month without pay.
Post reporters Jose A. Del Real and Lisa Rein pushed back against Sonmez's attacks. And they too received blowback from Sonmez allies at the paper.
Fox News confirmed the ousting after the Daily Beast first broke the news that the Post and Sonmez had parted ways.