LONDON: The Washington Post on Thursday fired reporter Felicia Sonmez, who has been publicly feuding with her colleagues and criticizing the newspaper’s leadership for the past week.
It said Sonmez was fired for “misconduct that includes insubordination, maligning your coworkers online and violating The Post's standards on workplace collegiality and inclusivity.”
“We cannot allow you to continue to work as a journalist representing The Washington Post,” the statement concluded.
It comes after the newspaper suspended journalist Dave Weigel for one month without pay for retweeting a post containing a sexist joke.
Weigel was called out publicly by Sonmez on Twitter and privately on a Washington Post Slack channel.
Sonmez quoted Weigel’s tweet with the caption: “Fantastic to work at a news outlet where retweets like this are allowed!”
On Slack, she tagged Weigel and asked: “I’m sorry but what is this?” His retweet of the joke sent “a confusing message about what the Post’s values are,” she added.
Weigel apologized for the retweet and deleted it from his account. He was subsequently suspended without pay for a month. However, Sonmez continued to criticize him, drawing more and more attention.
Sonmez proceeded to argue publicly with many of her colleagues, prompting executive editor Sally Buzbee to intervene with an internal memo stating the newspaper did not tolerate colleagues "attacking colleagues" either face-to-face or online.
“Respect for others is critical to any civil society, including our newsroom.”
Sonmez was not satisfied with the response and tweeted that Buzbee’s note had provided “fodder for *more* harassment” against her.
In her public comments, Sonmez was also highly critical of the newspaper’s leadership, including Buzbee, and some of her colleagues.
In one Twitter thread, she suggested it was only a good workplace for those who were white and highly paid.
Sonmez sued the paper for discrimination in 2021, but the suit was dismissed.
