Washington Post Fires Reporter Felicia Sonmez After She Publicly Criticized Leadership, Colleagues (Report)
variety.comTodd Spangler NY Digital EditorThe Washington Post fired national political reporter Felicia Sonmez, according to published reports.
Her reported termination comes after Sonmez lambasted the Jeff Bezos-owned paper’s leadership and engaged in highly public feuds on Twitter with other staffers.The Post’s firing of Sonmez was first reported by the Daily Beast.
A rep for the Washington Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sonmez hasn’t commented on Twitter and did not respond to an email request for comment.Earlier this week, the Washington Post suspended political reporter Dave Weigel without pay for 30 days after he retweeted a sexist joke on June 3 and was called out on Twitter by Sonmez, who quoted the tweet in question and wrote, “Fantastic to work at a news outlet where retweets like this are allowed!” Weigel quickly removed the retweet and apologized.
Sonmez’s public rebuke of Weigel prompted another Post reporter, Jose Del Real, to respond in a series of tweets, writing in part, “I hope you reconsider the cruelty you regularly unleash against colleagues.” In response, Sonmez wrote, “When women stand up for themselves, some people respond with even more vitriol… Objecting to sexism is not ‘clout chasing.’ It’s not ‘harassment.’ And it’s certainly not ‘cruelty.'”The infighting led Washington Post executive editor Sally Buzbee to distribute a memo Sunday to the newsroom that said in part, “We expect the staff to treat each other with respect and kindness both in the newsroom and online.
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