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The Washington Post has fired politics reporter Felicia Sonmez after she ignited a firestorm at the newspaper by publicly criticizing her colleagues and management.
Sonmez was let go for ‘misconduct that includes insubordination, maligning your co-workers online and violating The Post’s standards on workplace collegiality and inclusivity,’ according to a widely reported termination email.
The Washington Post reports that Sonmez had been due to ‘play a key role’ in their reporting on the prime time January 6th riot hearings today before she was fired.
On the day she was let go, Sonmez tweeted: ‘I care deeply about my colleagues, and I want this institution to provide support for all employees. Right now, The Post is a place where many of us fear our trauma will be used against us, based on the company’s past actions.’
Sonmez, 39, was fired after a week where she publicly scrapped with several of her colleagues and accused management of failing to support female staff and only protecting ‘white stars.’
It began last week after political reporter Dave Weigel retweeted an off-color joke which stated: ‘Every girl is bi. You just have to figure out if it’s bisexual or bipolar.’
Sonmez, who previously sued her employers over claims she was banned from reporting on sexual assault before the suit was thrown out in March this year, repeatedly slammed his retweet as ‘sexist.’
She also retweeted his tweet, sarcastically writing: ‘Fantastic to work at a news outlet where retweets like this are allowed.’
Weigel apologized for the retweet but was suspended for a month without pay nonetheless.
Felicia Sonmez first joined The Post in 2010, leaving in 2013, and rejoining in 2018
This was the retweet that David Weigel sent out which began the controversy
Weigel was suspended without pay for a month
Sonmez first joined The Post in 2010 before leaving in 2013 only to rejoin in 2018.
The day after Weigel’s controversial retweet, another of Sonmez’s former colleagues, Jose A. Del Real, while conceding that Weigel’s retweet was ‘terrible and unacceptable,’ accused her of ‘repeated and targeted public harassment of a colleague.’
Del Real also accused Sonmez of ‘rallying the internet to attack for a mistake he made doesn’t actually solve anything.’ The reporter continued: ‘We all mess up in some way or another. There is such a thing as challenging with compassion.’
In her response to Del Real, Sonmez said that ‘calling out sexism isn’t cruelty.’ She also said: ‘When women stand up for themselves, some people respond with even more vitriol.’
The pair exchanged Twitter blows until Del Real blocked Sonmez on Sunday. Sonmez asked in one tweet why no action was taken against Del Real for his messages.
In the midst of that Twitter spat, Del Real deactivated and reactivated his Twitter account, reports New York Magazine.
On Monday, The Washington Post’s Executive Editor, Sally Buzbee, who has been in the job less than a year, sent out a memo to staff discussing professional etiquette.
Buzbee sent out a second memo on Tuesday saying that management would not ‘tolerate colleagues attacking colleagues either face to face or online. Respect for others is critical to any civil society, including our newsroom.’
A video technician with The Post, Breanna Muir, replied to that memo saying that the newspaper had a ‘toxic work environment,’ reports The Daily Beast.
Sonmez sent out this message on the same day that she was fired
One of Sonmez’s former colleagues accused her of ‘repeated and targeted public harassment of a colleague’
During this Twitter exchange, Del Real deactivated and reactivated his Twitter account
Del Real later blocked Sonmez on Twitter
During this time, Sonmez was active on her Twitter page posting a long thread accusing management of preferential treatment to more prominent reporters.
Also during this time, several Post employees tweeted about their pride in working at the newspaper.
Those who said they were proud were called out by Sonmez in a Twitter thread on Thursday in which she pointed out that they were ‘all white’ and were ‘among the ‘stars’ who ‘get away with murder’ on social media.’
Sonmez also said: ‘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?’
When The Post’s Lisa Rein tweeted at Sonmez saying: ‘Please stop.’ Sonmez replied: ‘Do you have any idea of the torrent of abuse I’m facing right now?’
In another exchange, Sonmez criticized national editor Matea Gold for suggesting that reporters take time to ‘look after their mental health’ following the shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde in May.
Sonmez said that she was once reprimanded for telling an editor that she ‘needed to take a walk around the block after reading a difficult story.’
This was not the first time that Sonmez took on her former employers. In 2021, she sued the paper after claiming that she had been blacklisted from reporting on sexual assault stories because she had come forward about her own assault.
Sonmez had said The Post barred her from writing about Christine Blasey Ford´s sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, now a Supreme Court justice, and that she was later taken off other stories.
Sonmez told The Times that a statement would come from her via The Washington Post Guild. The guild represents over 1,000 Post employees
Sonmez said that some at The Washington Post ‘get away with murder’ on social media’
Sonmez said that she was once punished for asking to take a walk after reading a difficult story
Sonmez sued The Washington Post in 2021 after she accused them of being blacklisted from certain stories
Sonmez was suspended in January 2021 after sending out this tweet about Kobe Bryant
The lawsuit was thrown out in March 2022.
Sonmez accused The Post’s management of causing her ‘economic loss, humiliation, embarrassment, mental and emotional distress.’
In his ruling on the lawsuit, Judge Anthony Epstein noted that The Post argued it took action against Sonmez because of her public statements, to avoid the appearance or perception of bias. That, he said, did not violate the law.
‘A news publication has a constitutionally protected right to adopt and enforce policies intended to protect public trust in its impartiality and objectivity,’ he wrote.
Sonmez´s lawyer, Sundeep Hora, said in an email, ‘We are disappointed in the court’s reasoning and plan to appeal the decision.’ Washington Post spokesperson Kris Coratti declined to comment.
In her complaint, she said one editor told her that “it would present `the appearance of a conflict of interest´” for her to report on sexual misconduct.
In 2020, Sonmez was suspended by The Post after she tweeted out an article about Kobe Bryant’s sexual assault case not long after his death.
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