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:I think this is the right outcome.

He should not have retweeted that stupid joke, but let’s keep things in perspective. Retweeting is a pretty minor thing that has very little to do with his job and he apologized for it. He should have apologized for it, but that should have been the end of it.

She was probably even fine pointing it out once on Twitter but really should have just pointed it out to him privately and maybe to the HR department if he didn’t immediately remove it. Everything after that was harassment on her part. Her response should have been in line with the nature of the offense. Demanding that a person get fired over a minor offense and then continuing to harass him publicly over something that should be an internal HR issue was grounds for her getting fired. None of us is perfect and we do not want to live in a world where silly minor things are blown up to be career-ending scandals.

+1

He tweeted something nasty about women, and she called it out on him. Why does he get a pass for maligning 50% of the population publicly, and she gets dinged for "lack of collegiality" for pointing out he's a misogynist. There's something wrong with that.

Seriously, have you read nothing about what actually happened? Maybe try that before spouting off. Good grief.

That seems to be an on-point description to me and I’ve read a lot about it.

She does seem to have had a long history. But he is clearly getting a huge pass for doing something appallingly sexist, and she’s getting fired for pointing it out.

+1 I read the whole NY Times article about the firing to make sure I understood it, and I agree.

And I'll ask again . . . really? You believe that she was terminated for her initial tweet about Wiegel?

No, I believe she was terminated for continuing to speak up about Wiegel and how he wsn't adequately disciplined and pointed out other toxic elements of Washington Post culture (i.e. whistleblowing). The fact that Wiegel is still there and she isn't speaks volumes about the culture there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She acted crazy on Twitter. Coworkers shouldn’t be blasted online like that.

Um, you mean like the guy who wrote that all women are bipolar or bisexual? That guy who still has a job at the WaPo?

He got reprimanded, suspended, didn’t he? Did you want him to get fired for a stupid tweet?

You mean like she got fired for pointing out he made a stupid (misogynistic to be more accurate) tweet that insulted half of his coworkers? Collegiality my butt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She acted crazy on Twitter. Coworkers shouldn’t be blasted online like that.

Um, you mean like the guy who wrote that all women are bipolar or bisexual? That guy who still has a job at the WaPo?

He got reprimanded, suspended, didn’t he? Did you want him to get fired for a stupid tweet?

You mean like she got fired for pointing out he made a stupid (misogynistic to be more accurate) tweet that insulted half of his coworkers? Collegiality my butt.

[headdesk]

People really should read before they comment. I fear for the future.

[Anonymous]

Interesting that this dude’s friends seem to have found this thread and don’t get that BOTH reporters look dumb here, and THE POST looks dumb. It’s embarrassing that she was using Twitter to go scorched earth; it’s embarrassing that he was using his professional account to tweet dumb “women be crazy” day jokes in 2022; it’s frustrating and depressing that ALL of “elite media twitter” can’t see how their use of twitter undermines their work and creates these meaningless echo chambers.
She had the firing coming and it’s good the Post is rid of her. But all the other things here are still true too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is the right outcome.

He should not have retweeted that stupid joke, but let’s keep things in perspective. Retweeting is a pretty minor thing that has very little to do with his job and he apologized for it. He should have apologized for it, but that should have been the end of it.

She was probably even fine pointing it out once on Twitter but really should have just pointed it out to him privately and maybe to the HR department if he didn’t immediately remove it. Everything after that was harassment on her part. Her response should have been in line with the nature of the offense. Demanding that a person get fired over a minor offense and then continuing to harass him publicly over something that should be an internal HR issue was grounds for her getting fired. None of us is perfect and we do not want to live in a world where silly minor things are blown up to be career-ending scandals.

+1

He tweeted something nasty about women, and she called it out on him. Why does he get a pass for maligning 50% of the population publicly, and she gets dinged for "lack of collegiality" for pointing out he's a misogynist. There's something wrong with that.

Seriously, have you read nothing about what actually happened? Maybe try that before spouting off. Good grief.

That seems to be an on-point description to me and I’ve read a lot about it.

She does seem to have had a long history. But he is clearly getting a huge pass for doing something appallingly sexist, and she’s getting fired for pointing it out.

+1 I read the whole NY Times article about the firing to make sure I understood it, and I agree.

And I'll ask again . . . really? You believe that she was terminated for her initial tweet about Wiegel?

No, I believe she was terminated for continuing to speak up about Wiegel and how he wsn't adequately disciplined and pointed out other toxic elements of Washington Post culture (i.e. whistleblowing). The fact that Wiegel is still there and she isn't speaks volumes about the culture there.

So, you *don't* actually agree with the post you earlier endorsed? OK.

Moreover, she was terminated for continuing to malign Wiegel and other co-workers in a public forum, after being expressly asked to stop. That is not whistleblowing, that's attention seeking. She didn't file an EEO complaint, she went to a public forum and trashed multiple colleagues. I'm pretty sure it you or I did that, we'd be out of a job to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems harsh, given that this was sparked by her objection to a misogynistic tweet made by another Washington Post employee Dave Weigel, who was not fired, despite tweeting about all women being either "bisexual or bipolar", which is hardly "collegial" behavior.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/09/business/media/felicia-sonmez-washington-post.html
Reporter Felicia Sonmez Is Fired by The Washington Post
Ms. Sonmez, a national political reporter, has been at the center of a debate over The Post’s social media policies.

Felicia Sonmez, a reporter for The Washington Post who in recent days has been at the center of a debate over the organization’s social media policies and the culture of the newsroom, was fired on Thursday, according to three people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

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.”

In the past week, she has been at the center of a public firestorm over the newsroom’s culture. On Friday, Dave Weigel, a political reporter at the paper, retweeted a sexist joke that implied women were either bisexual or bipolar. Ms. Sonmez then tweeted, “Fantastic to work at a news outlet where retweets like this are allowed!”
Mr. Weigel apologized for the tweet. On Monday, he was suspended by The Post for a month without pay, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Ms. Sonmez then got into a Twitter disagreement with Jose A. Del Real, a reporter who acknowledged Mr. Weigel’s tweet was “unacceptable” but admonished Ms. Sonmez for “rallying the internet to attack” Mr. Weigel. Mr. Real later sent several tweets regarding an “unrelenting series of attacks” against him, and Ms. Sonmez questioned why The Post had not done anything to reprimand him for his tweets about her, including one that said she had engaged in “repeated and targeted public harassment of a colleague.”

I was a pretty high profile journalist for 20 years and quite honestly, I never got the appeal of Twitter and social media use for journalists beyond just sharing articles you produced.

Weigel ran his mouth for years on social media. He and his cohort. Often snarky, inside jokes, all sorts of stuff that really isn't appropriate or professional for reporters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She acted crazy on Twitter. Coworkers shouldn’t be blasted online like that.

Um, you mean like the guy who wrote that all women are bipolar or bisexual? That guy who still has a job at the WaPo?

He got reprimanded, suspended, didn’t he? Did you want him to get fired for a stupid tweet?

You mean like she got fired for pointing out he made a stupid (misogynistic to be more accurate) tweet that insulted half of his coworkers? Collegiality my butt.

He literally didn’t make the tweet. And it was a bad dad joke that most sane people didn’t even care about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She acted crazy on Twitter. Coworkers shouldn’t be blasted online like that.

Um, you mean like the guy who wrote that all women are bipolar or bisexual? That guy who still has a job at the WaPo?

He got reprimanded, suspended, didn’t he? Did you want him to get fired for a stupid tweet?

You mean like she got fired for pointing out he made a stupid (misogynistic to be more accurate) tweet that insulted half of his coworkers? Collegiality my butt.

He literally didn’t make the tweet. And it was a bad dad joke that most sane people didn’t even care about.

Ok Wiegel. He shared the tweet. If I had done that in a public forum, my place of work would have fired him. And the dads I know don't talk about women in that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that this dude’s friends seem to have found this thread and don’t get that BOTH reporters look dumb here, and THE POST looks dumb. It’s embarrassing that she was using Twitter to go scorched earth; it’s embarrassing that he was using his professional account to tweet dumb “women be crazy” day jokes in 2022; it’s frustrating and depressing that ALL of “elite media twitter” can’t see how their use of twitter undermines their work and creates these meaningless echo chambers.
She had the firing coming and it’s good the Post is rid of her. But all the other things here are still true too.

+1 This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that this dude’s friends seem to have found this thread and don’t get that BOTH reporters look dumb here, and THE POST looks dumb. It’s embarrassing that she was using Twitter to go scorched earth; it’s embarrassing that he was using his professional account to tweet dumb “women be crazy” day jokes in 2022; it’s frustrating and depressing that ALL of “elite media twitter” can’t see how their use of twitter undermines their work and creates these meaningless echo chambers.
She had the firing coming and it’s good the Post is rid of her. But all the other things here are still true too.

+1 This.

The Post is a newspaper...they should at least have a basic understanding of optics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is the right outcome.

He should not have retweeted that stupid joke, but let’s keep things in perspective. Retweeting is a pretty minor thing that has very little to do with his job and he apologized for it. He should have apologized for it, but that should have been the end of it.

She was probably even fine pointing it out once on Twitter but really should have just pointed it out to him privately and maybe to the HR department if he didn’t immediately remove it. Everything after that was harassment on her part. Her response should have been in line with the nature of the offense. Demanding that a person get fired over a minor offense and then continuing to harass him publicly over something that should be an internal HR issue was grounds for her getting fired. None of us is perfect and we do not want to live in a world where silly minor things are blown up to be career-ending scandals.

+1

He tweeted something nasty about women, and she called it out on him. Why does he get a pass for maligning 50% of the population publicly, and she gets dinged for "lack of collegiality" for pointing out he's a misogynist. There's something wrong with that.

Seriously, have you read nothing about what actually happened? Maybe try that before spouting off. Good grief.

That seems to be an on-point description to me and I’ve read a lot about it.

She does seem to have had a long history. But he is clearly getting a huge pass for doing something appallingly sexist, and she’s getting fired for pointing it out.

+1 I read the whole NY Times article about the firing to make sure I understood it, and I agree.

And I'll ask again . . . really? You believe that she was terminated for her initial tweet about Wiegel?

No, I believe she was terminated for continuing to speak up about Wiegel and how he wsn't adequately disciplined and pointed out other toxic elements of Washington Post culture (i.e. whistleblowing). The fact that Wiegel is still there and she isn't speaks volumes about the culture there.

Because she was continuously attacking her colleagues on Twitter - viciously, sending mobs after them - after management said to stop doing that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, wow, I knew her back in the day.

What was she like?

She was chill and laid back from what I recall. Down to earth. Not the calculating or slick type like others who ended up in the political/Washington/media scene.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that this dude’s friends seem to have found this thread and don’t get that BOTH reporters look dumb here, and THE POST looks dumb. It’s embarrassing that she was using Twitter to go scorched earth; it’s embarrassing that he was using his professional account to tweet dumb “women be crazy” day jokes in 2022; it’s frustrating and depressing that ALL of “elite media twitter” can’t see how their use of twitter undermines their work and creates these meaningless echo chambers.
She had the firing coming and it’s good the Post is rid of her. But all the other things here are still true too.

Exactly. Twitter is trash, and such a distraction from actually covering the news.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She acted crazy on Twitter. Coworkers shouldn’t be blasted online like that.

Um, you mean like the guy who wrote that all women are bipolar or bisexual? That guy who still has a job at the WaPo?

He got reprimanded, suspended, didn’t he? Did you want him to get fired for a stupid tweet?

You mean like she got fired for pointing out he made a stupid (misogynistic to be more accurate) tweet that insulted half of his coworkers? Collegiality my butt.

He literally didn’t make the tweet. And it was a bad dad joke that most sane people didn’t even care about.

Ok Wiegel. He shared the tweet. If I had done that in a public forum, my place of work would have fired him. And the dads I know don't talk about women in that way.

It's Weigel, not Wiegel. You work at a different place. He's not a dad.

The guy apologized, instantly, and was suspended without pay for a month. He is a good reporter who is usually goofy but not offensive on Twitter. I really don't see the possible justification for punishing him worse than this, over such a dumb thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, wow, I knew her back in the day.

What was she like?

She was chill and laid back from what I recall. Down to earth. Not the calculating or slick type like others who ended up in the political/Washington/media scene.

She does not come across as chill or laid back on Twitter, that's for sure. I wonder what happened - or if that's just her Twitter persona.