Firing Felicia Sonmez

We have been following the saga of Washington Post journalist Felicia Sonmez. As you doubtless recall, she became famous by calling out one David Weigel, another Post-man, for retweeting a statement that, thanks to her, has now been indelibly inscribed in everyone’s brain. 

The retweeted statement was: Every girl is bi. You just have to figure out whether it’s polar or sexual.

One feels compelled to apologize profusely, because I doubt that you have ever, in all your days, read anything that is quite such a horrifyingly sexist and misogynist statement of patriarchal white privilege.

As noted on this blog and just about everywhere else, Sonmez saw the retweet and flew into high dudgeon. She put on her social justice warrior pants-- I will not opine on what she was or was not wearing before she put on her sjw pants-- and set out to lead the fight against white supremacist patriarchal capitalism, or some such.

As we also pointed out here, the Weigel retweet was not addressed to Sonmez. She stepped right into it, with both feet, and made herself the story.

Her unhinged behavior was so out of line that she lost the ladies of The View. When you have lost The View, you have really lost it.

Now, one understands that Sonmex simply misread the national mood. She did not realize that the social justice mania, and the war against white supremacy, is, completely yesterday. She might have noticed the election results in San Francisco-- not just the recall of Chesa Boudin but the prior recall of three school board members-- and she might have concluded that being a fearless warrior for the Revolution was no longer a suitable role for a newsperson. Alas, she did not. It cost her her job.

Anyway, Sonmez, who had previously sued the Post and had lost, got into a fearsome wrangle with her colleagues, to the point where executive editor Sally Buzbee issued a weak-kneed statement to the effect that collegiality and civility should rule the newsroom.

As it happened, and as we also pointed out here, as a management technique, Buzbee’s was sorely lacking. It was too weak and too girly. 

But then, one day later, Buzbee seemed to come to her senses, or else she received instructions from higher ups at the paper or because she read this blog, and fired Felicia Sonmez.

Whether or not Sonmez was on the side of the truth, as she likes to think, or whether she was simply an unhinged, deranged, humorless scold, the reality was that her presence and her stream of nasty tweets was disturbing newsroom harmony. As I pointed out in another post, following the analysis of a slightly different situation, offered by Malcolm Gladwell, organizations normally place more value on social cohesion than they do on truth.

The New York Times reported the story:

Ms. Sonmez was fired over email on Thursday afternoon, according to one of the people. In an emailed termination letter, which was viewed by The New York Times, Ms. Sonmez was told that The Post was ending her employment, effective immediately, “for misconduct that includes insubordination, maligning your co-workers online and violating The Post’s standards on workplace collegiality and inclusivity.”

The email, from Wayne Connell, the Post’s chief human resources officer, also said Ms. Sonmez’s “public attempts to question the motives of your co-journalists” undermined The Post’s reputation.

“We cannot allow you to continue to work as a journalist representing The Washington Post,” the letter said.

So, the Washington Post now has one less humorless scold.

The Daily Mail reports on the chaos that young Ms. Sonmez had unleashed.

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.'

Somehow or other Sonmez had come to believe that if she was on the right side in the great war against sexist misogyny, anything was alright. She has now discovered that we live in a new era, and that causing the editors to lose control of the newsroom was not alright.

There is only one angle that has not been raised in the fracas. One does not know why Buzbee changed her approach, but one expects that the publisher might very well have weighed in. Then again, we all know that the owner of the Washington Post is one Jeff Bezos. 

Do you think, can you imagine that Bezos picked up the phone and called the Post publisher, and said that this young twit was damaging his property, and that it was time to do something about it?

Just a thought.