Washington Post fires reporter Felicia Somnez who objected to misogynistic tweets

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sonmez, who in 2021 sued the paper for discrimination (the suit was recently dismissed; she plans to appeal), has been outspoken over the past week about issues related to inequity in the newsroom.

In her public comments Sonmez had been highly critical of The Post's leadership, including Executive Editor Sally Buzbee, along with many of her colleagues.

At times, some of her colleagues went on Twitter to plead with Sonmez to stop attacking The Post on social media.

Jose A. Del Real, a reporter at The Post, responded on Twitter Saturday to Sonmez's initial tweet. Del Real said Weigel's tweet was "terrible and unacceptable."

"But," he added, "rallying the internet to attack him for a mistake he made doesn't actually solve anything. We all mess up in some way or another. There is such a thing as challenging with compassion."

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/06/09/media/felicia-sonmez-washington-post/index.html

So please fill me in—when did they look the other way?
She sounds awful.

It can be simultaneously true that she is awful (which indeed seems to be the case) and the Post is a very sexist institution whose reporting on anything involving women can’t be trusted, and that looks the other way at misogynist reporters.

So please fill me in? When have they looked the other way? They got rid of Tom Toles and Gene Weingarten for their actions. What else has there been that wasn’t addressed?

Didn’t those two retire?

Well that was the outward excuse given. In Tom Toles case it happened right after his costume party where one of the attendees wore bl**k face. In Gene Weingarten’s case he retired after an unfortunate article where he made fun of an ethnic cuisine, can’t remember which one. He was lambasted in Letters to the Editor

Why wouldn’t the Post take a stand and do more than just letting them retire?

Not sure what you mean by “taking a stand”. Probably if Somnez had calmed down, she would have been offered the chance to quit on her own as well. However, I believe she wanted to be fired. Her actions don’t align with someone who valued her job or employer. She clearly didn’t want to try to work within the system to make it better. So why would she want to work there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sonmez, who in 2021 sued the paper for discrimination (the suit was recently dismissed; she plans to appeal), has been outspoken over the past week about issues related to inequity in the newsroom.

In her public comments Sonmez had been highly critical of The Post's leadership, including Executive Editor Sally Buzbee, along with many of her colleagues.

At times, some of her colleagues went on Twitter to plead with Sonmez to stop attacking The Post on social media.

Jose A. Del Real, a reporter at The Post, responded on Twitter Saturday to Sonmez's initial tweet. Del Real said Weigel's tweet was "terrible and unacceptable."

"But," he added, "rallying the internet to attack him for a mistake he made doesn't actually solve anything. We all mess up in some way or another. There is such a thing as challenging with compassion."

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/06/09/media/felicia-sonmez-washington-post/index.html

So please fill me in—when did they look the other way?
She sounds awful.

It can be simultaneously true that she is awful (which indeed seems to be the case) and the Post is a very sexist institution whose reporting on anything involving women can’t be trusted, and that looks the other way at misogynist reporters.

So please fill me in? When have they looked the other way? They got rid of Tom Toles and Gene Weingarten for their actions. What else has there been that wasn’t addressed?

Didn’t those two retire?

Well that was the outward excuse given. In Tom Toles case it happened right after his costume party where one of the attendees wore bl**k face. In Gene Weingarten’s case he retired after an unfortunate article where he made fun of an ethnic cuisine, can’t remember which one. He was lambasted in Letters to the Editor

Why wouldn’t the Post take a stand and do more than just letting them retire?

Not sure what you mean by “taking a stand”. Probably if Somnez had calmed down, she would have been offered the chance to quit on her own as well. However, I believe she wanted to be fired. Her actions don’t align with someone who valued her job or employer. She clearly didn’t want to try to work within the system to make it better. So why would she want to work there?

Yeah, the guy should have been fired so she didn't have to go through all that.

[Anonymous]

Can someone please share the actual joke that was tweeted? I know it had to do with women being either bipolar or bisexual, but I can’t find the verbatim quote anywhere. Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sonmez, who in 2021 sued the paper for discrimination (the suit was recently dismissed; she plans to appeal), has been outspoken over the past week about issues related to inequity in the newsroom.

In her public comments Sonmez had been highly critical of The Post's leadership, including Executive Editor Sally Buzbee, along with many of her colleagues.

At times, some of her colleagues went on Twitter to plead with Sonmez to stop attacking The Post on social media.

Jose A. Del Real, a reporter at The Post, responded on Twitter Saturday to Sonmez's initial tweet. Del Real said Weigel's tweet was "terrible and unacceptable."

"But," he added, "rallying the internet to attack him for a mistake he made doesn't actually solve anything. We all mess up in some way or another. There is such a thing as challenging with compassion."

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/06/09/media/felicia-sonmez-washington-post/index.html

So please fill me in—when did they look the other way?
She sounds awful.

It can be simultaneously true that she is awful (which indeed seems to be the case) and the Post is a very sexist institution whose reporting on anything involving women can’t be trusted, and that looks the other way at misogynist reporters.

So please fill me in? When have they looked the other way? They got rid of Tom Toles and Gene Weingarten for their actions. What else has there been that wasn’t addressed?

Didn’t those two retire?

Well that was the outward excuse given. In Tom Toles case it happened right after his costume party where one of the attendees wore bl**k face. In Gene Weingarten’s case he retired after an unfortunate article where he made fun of an ethnic cuisine, can’t remember which one. He was lambasted in Letters to the Editor

Why wouldn’t the Post take a stand and do more than just letting them retire?

Not sure what you mean by “taking a stand”. Probably if Somnez had calmed down, she would have been offered the chance to quit on her own as well. However, I believe she wanted to be fired. Her actions don’t align with someone who valued her job or employer. She clearly didn’t want to try to work within the system to make it better. So why would she want to work there?

Yeah, the guy should have been fired so she didn't have to go through all that.

?? Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, she was given several warnings to stop her behavior. She had a choice, but continued—sounds like a loose cannon.

+1 although I think she sounds like my 2 year old when he's having a temper tantrum. At this point whatever point she is trying to make is lost because of her poor behavior.

It is hard to see how she could ever be trusted as a reporter in the future and expect people to want to read what she has written because she has gone so far overboard. I know I would skip her article whenever I saw her byline simply because of her clear vitriolic and hyperbolic writings. She had a point, but when she was challenged her response vis a vis the personal attacks and clear animus made her distasteful and now her writing is irrelevant because of the clear bias.

She deserved to be fired because of her behavior and I wouldn't be surprised if she is completely unable to find employment with any legitimate news agency. She might be better off migrating over the New York Post. They are right up her alley.

The only post employee who attacked a colleague was Del Real. He attacked Somnez and she retweeted his attacks. Most of her tweets were retweeting language by the post. Del Real was not punished, Weigel suspended, and she was fired for speaking out. Stay silent ladies!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sonmez, who in 2021 sued the paper for discrimination (the suit was recently dismissed; she plans to appeal), has been outspoken over the past week about issues related to inequity in the newsroom.

In her public comments Sonmez had been highly critical of The Post's leadership, including Executive Editor Sally Buzbee, along with many of her colleagues.

At times, some of her colleagues went on Twitter to plead with Sonmez to stop attacking The Post on social media.

Jose A. Del Real, a reporter at The Post, responded on Twitter Saturday to Sonmez's initial tweet. Del Real said Weigel's tweet was "terrible and unacceptable."

"But," he added, "rallying the internet to attack him for a mistake he made doesn't actually solve anything. We all mess up in some way or another. There is such a thing as challenging with compassion."

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/06/09/media/felicia-sonmez-washington-post/index.html



So please fill me in—when did they look the other way?
She sounds awful.

It can be simultaneously true that she is awful (which indeed seems to be the case) and the Post is a very sexist institution whose reporting on anything involving women can’t be trusted, and that looks the other way at misogynist reporters.

So please fill me in? When have they looked the other way? They got rid of Tom Toles and Gene Weingarten for their actions. What else has there been that wasn’t addressed?

Didn’t those two retire?

Well that was the outward excuse given. In Tom Toles case it happened right after his costume party where one of the attendees wore bl**k face. In Gene Weingarten’s case he retired after an unfortunate article where he made fun of an ethnic cuisine, can’t remember which one. He was lambasted in Letters to the Editor

Why wouldn’t the Post take a stand and do more than just letting them retire?

Not sure what you mean by “taking a stand”. Probably if Somnez had calmed down, she would have been offered the chance to quit on her own as well. However, I believe she wanted to be fired. Her actions don’t align with someone who valued her job or employer. She clearly didn’t want to try to work within the system to make it better. So why would she want to work there?

Yeah, the guy should have been fired so she didn't have to go through all that.

I don’t think Weigel should’ve been fired for the retweet but the Post should’ve acted sooner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, she was given several warnings to stop her behavior. She had a choice, but continued—sounds like a loose cannon.

+1 although I think she sounds like my 2 year old when he's having a temper tantrum. At this point whatever point she is trying to make is lost because of her poor behavior.

It is hard to see how she could ever be trusted as a reporter in the future and expect people to want to read what she has written because she has gone so far overboard. I know I would skip her article whenever I saw her byline simply because of her clear vitriolic and hyperbolic writings. She had a point, but when she was challenged her response vis a vis the personal attacks and clear animus made her distasteful and now her writing is irrelevant because of the clear bias.

She deserved to be fired because of her behavior and I wouldn't be surprised if she is completely unable to find employment with any legitimate news agency. She might be better off migrating over the New York Post. They are right up her alley.

The only post employee who attacked a colleague was Del Real. He attacked Somnez and she retweeted his attacks. Most of her tweets were retweeting language by the post. Del Real was not punished, Weigel suspended, and she was fired for speaking out. Stay silent ladies!

Oh, baloney. Del Real was very circumspect.

Somnez was fired because she couldn't control her temper. She responded guns blazing and even more of her over-the-top screaming banshee routine.

As a woman I am always disheartened when I see behavior like hers because she reinforced the negative stereotypes of woman in journalism as being rabid soap-boxers. Somnez had multiple opportunities to dial back and to put forth a cogent and cohesive statement yet she failed to do so at every opportunity. She literally screamed and kicked her way out of her own job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, she was given several warnings to stop her behavior. She had a choice, but continued—sounds like a loose cannon.

+1 although I think she sounds like my 2 year old when he's having a temper tantrum. At this point whatever point she is trying to make is lost because of her poor behavior.

It is hard to see how she could ever be trusted as a reporter in the future and expect people to want to read what she has written because she has gone so far overboard. I know I would skip her article whenever I saw her byline simply because of her clear vitriolic and hyperbolic writings. She had a point, but when she was challenged her response vis a vis the personal attacks and clear animus made her distasteful and now her writing is irrelevant because of the clear bias.

She deserved to be fired because of her behavior and I wouldn't be surprised if she is completely unable to find employment with any legitimate news agency. She might be better off migrating over the New York Post. They are right up her alley.

The only post employee who attacked a colleague was Del Real. He attacked Somnez and she retweeted his attacks. Most of her tweets were retweeting language by the post. Del Real was not punished, Weigel suspended, and she was fired for speaking out. Stay silent ladies!

No, stay calm, ladies. Looking like a hysterical hot mess does not impress anyone except other hysterical hot messes. If you want to be heard, be calm, cool and collected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, she was given several warnings to stop her behavior. She had a choice, but continued—sounds like a loose cannon.

+1 although I think she sounds like my 2 year old when he's having a temper tantrum. At this point whatever point she is trying to make is lost because of her poor behavior.

It is hard to see how she could ever be trusted as a reporter in the future and expect people to want to read what she has written because she has gone so far overboard. I know I would skip her article whenever I saw her byline simply because of her clear vitriolic and hyperbolic writings. She had a point, but when she was challenged her response vis a vis the personal attacks and clear animus made her distasteful and now her writing is irrelevant because of the clear bias.

She deserved to be fired because of her behavior and I wouldn't be surprised if she is completely unable to find employment with any legitimate news agency. She might be better off migrating over the New York Post. They are right up her alley.

The only post employee who attacked a colleague was Del Real. He attacked Somnez and she retweeted his attacks. Most of her tweets were retweeting language by the post. Del Real was not punished, Weigel suspended, and she was fired for speaking out. Stay silent ladies!

Oh, baloney. Del Real was very circumspect.

Somnez was fired because she couldn't control her temper. She responded guns blazing and even more of her over-the-top screaming banshee routine.

As a woman I am always disheartened when I see behavior like hers because she reinforced the negative stereotypes of woman in journalism as being rabid soap-boxers. Somnez had multiple opportunities to dial back and to put forth a cogent and cohesive statement yet she failed to do so at every opportunity. She literally screamed and kicked her way out of her own job.

Great post. Completely agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, she was given several warnings to stop her behavior. She had a choice, but continued—sounds like a loose cannon.

+1 although I think she sounds like my 2 year old when he's having a temper tantrum. At this point whatever point she is trying to make is lost because of her poor behavior.

It is hard to see how she could ever be trusted as a reporter in the future and expect people to want to read what she has written because she has gone so far overboard. I know I would skip her article whenever I saw her byline simply because of her clear vitriolic and hyperbolic writings. She had a point, but when she was challenged her response vis a vis the personal attacks and clear animus made her distasteful and now her writing is irrelevant because of the clear bias.

She deserved to be fired because of her behavior and I wouldn't be surprised if she is completely unable to find employment with any legitimate news agency. She might be better off migrating over the New York Post. They are right up her alley.

The only post employee who attacked a colleague was Del Real. He attacked Somnez and she retweeted his attacks. Most of her tweets were retweeting language by the post. Del Real was not punished, Weigel suspended, and she was fired for speaking out. Stay silent ladies!

No, stay calm, ladies. Looking like a hysterical hot mess does not impress anyone except other hysterical hot messes. If you want to be heard, be calm, cool and collected.

I think if the roles were reversed—the person who retweeted the sexist tweet was a low level reporter and the person who called it out was a popular reporter—the framing of this story would be flipped. In fact, the Post probably would’ve fired the person for the sexist retweet. Institutions play favorites. Somnez’s main problem was having high expectations for her employer.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know anything about somnez or this del real person but I’ve followed wiegel for years. He has never seemed misogynistic to me (I’m a woman’s march attending radical feminist too). I’ve always quite enjoyed him.

I don’t like the joke but hardly think it was fire worthy considering his track record. Honestly I feel like suspending for a month without pay is crazy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know anything about somnez or this del real person but I’ve followed wiegel for years. He has never seemed misogynistic to me (I’m a woman’s march attending radical feminist too). I’ve always quite enjoyed him.

I don’t like the joke but hardly think it was fire worthy considering his track record. Honestly I feel like suspending for a month without pay is crazy

Same.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone please share the actual joke that was tweeted? I know it had to do with women being either bipolar or bisexual, but I can’t find the verbatim quote anywhere. Thanks

[Anonymous]

I hadn't seen the actual re-tweet. Thank you, Jeff!

It is in poor taste (and I disagree with it completely) but I admit that I, as a woman, smirked when I read it. Was it worth some schmuck being suspended without pay for a month? I dunno.

In many ways I think we're taking all of this too far. I mean, I'd be more upset if it was a joke about someone being fat or ugly...I don't know why but those would bother me more.

This one is lame and, these days, seems kinda true. People are so strung up and tense it seems like all I see are people with their moods ping-ponging up and down going from one extreme to another.

And then the me-too crowd moving in with everyone coming out. Like where were you back in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, etc? Huh? Where were you then when people like my cousins and our best friends were fighting against discrimination and scared to let people know that they were in a relationship with a person of the same sex. Yeah, right. Snort. You were nowhere to be found. But NOW? Now that it's hip and popular? You're all over it. Riiiiiiiiight.

Anyway the joke is lame, the re-tweet is lame, and Somnez seems like she was trying to make a name for herself and it backfired when she couldn't control her behavior. She's on fire because she lit a match and didn't think about what would happen if she kept fanning it. Too bad, so sad but Somnez's firing from WaPo is no great loss to journalism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hadn't seen the actual re-tweet. Thank you, Jeff!

It is in poor taste (and I disagree with it completely) but I admit that I, as a woman, smirked when I read it. Was it worth some schmuck being suspended without pay for a month? I dunno.

In many ways I think we're taking all of this too far. I mean, I'd be more upset if it was a joke about someone being fat or ugly...I don't know why but those would bother me more.

This one is lame and, these days, seems kinda true. People are so strung up and tense it seems like all I see are people with their moods ping-ponging up and down going from one extreme to another.

And then the me-too crowd moving in with everyone coming out. Like where were you back in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, etc? Huh? Where were you then when people like my cousins and our best friends were fighting against discrimination and scared to let people know that they were in a relationship with a person of the same sex. Yeah, right. Snort. You were nowhere to be found. But NOW? Now that it's hip and popular? You're all over it. Riiiiiiiiight.

Anyway the joke is lame, the re-tweet is lame, and Somnez seems like she was trying to make a name for herself and it backfired when she couldn't control her behavior. She's on fire because she lit a match and didn't think about what would happen if she kept fanning it. Too bad, so sad but Somnez's firing from WaPo is no great loss to journalism.

I agree with everything you said. It’s a joke in poor taste, but at the same time, it’s not worth losing your career over. It’s something I would’ve let go of as soon as he took it down and apologized for.