Yesterday, the Washington Post Guild, the employees’ union, released a statement in support of suspended reporter Felicia Sonmez. Sonmez had been suspended following her tasteless tweet about Kobe Bryant shortly after his death, though her true offense was supposedly that she’d tweeted a screenshot of her work email inbox, which featured the full names of emailers, thus violating the Washington Post’s social media policy.
The union’s list of demands also included reinstating Sonmez:
The company should issue a statement condemning abuse of its reporters, allow Felicia to return to work, rescind whatever sanctions have been imposed and provide her with any resources she may request as she navigates this traumatic experience.
WaPo managing editor Tracy Grant recently released a statement on the matter:
New statement regarding Post reporter Felicia Sonmez pic.twitter.com/HBt2s5VW68
— Kristine Coratti Kelly (@kriscoratti) January 28, 2020
Washington Post managing editor Tracy Grant calls political reporter Felicia Sonmez's tweets "ill-timed" but "not in clear and direct violation" of the paper's social media policy. https://t.co/BcieOd3CDG
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) January 28, 2020
Welp.
Ahahahha https://t.co/tdxX2ZUDBg
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) January 28, 2020
Cave to the union again, nice WaPo???
— Dave Hollon (@DaveHollon) January 28, 2020
Blink "HELP" in Morse code if you typed this against your will
— Anthony Bialy (@AnthonyBialy) January 28, 2020
"We fear the mob" https://t.co/9Q8qFz621N
— It's still 2016 apparently (@jtLOL) January 28, 2020
And evidently they should still fear it:
"Not in clear and direct violation."
This is still a butthurt leader basically refusing to back down. Ugly.— Resolve.Action.Love (@Snowman55403) January 28, 2020
Cowardly. Somebody in senior management is scared of women talking about sexual assault…
— Violette Boyko (@Venus_Rising8) January 28, 2020
MISSING FROM THIS: "We apologize to our reporter." https://t.co/QD4yFcHi4Z
— David Gura (@davidgura) January 28, 2020
I didn't see an apology in there.
— Rob Rainbolt (@Rob_Rainbolt) January 28, 2020
So for a start, delete "clear and direct", and apologise to the reporter.
— ʘЬѵₑ₨ᴱₑɾ (@obverseer) January 28, 2020
Apologize to your reporter. https://t.co/Bl2nJW2ACN
— Kyle Feldscher (@Kyle_Feldscher) January 28, 2020
Yall really should issue a public apology to @feliciasonmez. And a hell of a raise.
— Kendally Brown (@kendallybrown) January 28, 2020
So you apologize? You are concerned about her safety? She has been reinstated?
— penwhen (@penwhen) January 28, 2020
There’s a point after one has overreached where you have to realize you’ve done so much harm to your argument that you should just give up the ghost and move on.
Whoever felt the need to add “while we consider [her] tweets ill-timed” to water this down should know better.
— Justin Blankenship (@jgblankenship) January 28, 2020
They regret having "spoken publicly", but not the act itself? Way to go, WaPo. Faith restored.
— Pint Apple (@pint_apple) January 28, 2020
Shorter WaPo: Felicia didn't violate policy. We did. And we punished her. Got it?
— HanksEssay (@ahirsch23) January 28, 2020
Lame and cowardly. Take better care of your people.
— Ellen Clair Lamb (@ECLamb) January 28, 2020
That's barely professional, honestly. Just insulting.
— John Howard (@manyspaceships) January 28, 2020
I canceled my subscription when I heard about how Washington Post treats its reporters and will not be subscribing again.
— Cassandra? (@Serial_Tragedy) January 28, 2020
Another banner day for the Washington Post!
Our staff acted unprofessionally. Then we responded unprofessionally. This is WaPo in 2020.
— Goliathmeadow (@goliathmeadow) January 28, 2020
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