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.
Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez continued her scorched-earth tweeting about her colleagues on Thursday, this time taking aim at 'White," "star" reporters who expressed solidarity with the paper as the viral infighting has dominated conversation in the media industry.
On Thursday, 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.
"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?"
THE WASHINGTON POST'S WEEK FROM HELL
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 has been scolding her colleagues on social media.
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.
On Tuesday, in a second memo attempting to quell tensions in the newsroom, Buzbee urged employees to be "collegial" to one another.
"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."
The Washington Post boss went on to address the 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.
Washington Post reporter Felicia Somnez slammed colleague David Weigel for retweeting a joke about women, which led to his one-month suspension from the paper. (Eric McCandless via Getty Images)
"We respect and do not wish to inhibit any employee’s right to raise legitimate workplace issues. We know it takes bravery to call out problems. And we pledge to openly and honestly address problems brought to us. We moved quickly to show our intolerance for a sexist re-tweet sent by an employee last Friday."
"To be clear: We will enforce our policies and standards," Buzbee warned.
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.
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In addition to her colleagues, Sonmez also ripped onlookers who have been wryly critical of her onslaught.
"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," Somnez added.
The Washington Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sonmez sued the Washington Post in July 2021 over claims of discrimination for allegedly limiting her coverage of the #MeToo movement and the allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after publicly disclosing her own sexual trauma in 2018. A Washington, D.C. court dismissed the case in March.
Fox News' Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
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