Bari Weiss rips New York Times ‘activist journalists who treat the paper like a high school cafeteria’
Ex-Times columnist says she was bullied with ‘axe and guillotine emojis’ as paper betrayed her values
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former New York Times columnist Bari Weiss ripped Gray Lady reporters Wednesday as "activist journalists who treat the paper like a high school cafeteria."
Weiss slammed her former employer during the debut of her new podcast, "Honestly," when explaining to listeners why she no longer works at the liberal newspaper. She said the once-proud paper foments "rage, polarization, distrust" which betrayed her values.
Bari Weiss slammed her former employer during the debut of her new podcast, "Honestly," when explaining to listeners why she no longer works at The New York Times.
"I’m a newspaper woman without a newspaper. A way less poetic way to say that is that I’m one of those people that maybe you’ve been reading about, who left a big fancy media company to start a newsletter on Substack and now, I know, just what the world needed, another podcast," Weiss said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"How did I go from writing and editing at the opinion pages of The New York Times to striking out on my own? Well, the tedious version of the story involves Slack channels with axe and guillotine emojis and bullying in full view of the people in charge of the paper," she continued.
Weiss famously quit the Times in 2020 with a scathing resignation letter in which she detailed bullying by then colleagues in an "illiberal environment." Her resignation letter addressed directly to Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger sent shock waves across the media industry. Weiss detailed a toxic work environment and said "showing up for work as a centrist at an American newspaper should not require bravery."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Weiss said on her Wednesday podcast that New York Times editors "live in total fear of internet mobs" and has publishers who "know what’s right but can’t seem to find the courage to do it."
The New York Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The claims Weiss made on her podcast mirror a portion of her resignation letter in which she noted that her own "forays into Wrongthink" have made her the subject of "constant bullying by colleagues" who disagree with her views.
"They have called me a Nazi and a racist," she wrote.
"I have learned to brush off comments about how I’m ‘writing about the Jews again.’ Several colleagues perceived to be friendly with me were badgered by coworkers," Weiss added. "My work and my character are openly demeaned on company-wide Slack channels where masthead editors regularly weigh in."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Weiss wondered why Sulzberger has allowed such behavior inside the newsroom "in full view of the paper’s entire staff and the public."
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At the time, acting editorial page editor Kathleen Kingsbury provided a statement to Fox News.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We appreciate the many contributions that Bari made to Times Opinion. I’m personally committed to ensuring that The Times continues to publish voices, experiences and viewpoints from across the political spectrum in the Opinion report," Kingsbury said. "We see every day how impactful and important that approach is, especially through the outsized influence The Times’s opinion journalism has on the national conversation."