Yesterday, Washington Post national political reporter spent a good chunk of her morning ranting and raving about being a victim of colleague Jose Del Real’s polite call for civility.
Evidently she still hasn’t gotten it all out of her system yet.
Our queen has returned https://t.co/gkOWleYatc
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) June 9, 2022
Hi, Felicia! Long time, no see:
I stand by what I wrote in that email. In 2018, I was punished after I told my editors I needed to take a walk around the block after reading a difficult story.
Other colleagues have been punished for their trauma far more recently, but their stories aren’t mine to tell. 1/ https://t.co/uLXvL2fVmA
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
“For their trauma.” Oh, the humanity!
I’m not “discouraging reporters at the Post from seeking help they need.”
Far from it.
The Washington Post’s own actions are doing that. 2/
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
I care deeply about my colleagues, and I want this institution to provide support for all employees.
Right now, the Post is a place where many of us fear our trauma will be used against us, based on the company’s past actions. 3/
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
“Trauma.” She keeps using that word. We do not think it means what she thinks it means.
That is a longstanding and serious problem at the Post — and many other news organizations as well.
Here is a fantastic episode of WNYC’s @onthemedia last year that explains why this issue matters. 4/https://t.co/net3jk1c9X
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
Recommended
Here’s what Bruce Shapiro of the @DartCenter said:
“There are still too many managers, I think, who believe that trauma is not an issue the newsroom can deal with, or who are so afraid of it that they then begin taking perfectly able reporters and pulling them off of beats…” 5/
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
“… because they’re worried, ‘Oh, you’re too close to this; it’ll freak you out.’ There’s no evidence to support that. And in fact, it’s quite destructive.” 6/
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
Shapiro also said: “All the research says that the single most important factor associated with journalists’ resilience is their strength of collegial relationships.”
If my colleagues care about this issue, why are they anonymously disparaging me for speaking out about it? 7/
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
Are they anonymously disparaging her? Jose Del Real sent numerous tweets suggesting that Sonmez was out of line, and another colleague, Lisa Rein, simply asked Sonmez to “please stop.” They risked Felicia’s ire by putting their names behind their requests.
Here is what a different colleague —not quoted in @charlottetklein’s Vanity Fair piece — told me after that reply-all:
“Thanks for the reply all. I think they say we can take breaks but we are all scared to do so because we’ll get yanked and never tapped again for big stuff.” 8/
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
I don’t know who the colleagues anonymously disparaging me in media reports are.
But I do know that the reporters who issued synchronized tweets this week downplaying the Post’s workplace issues have a few things in common with each other. 9/
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
Maybe she’s referring to the four unnamed male colleagues who “liked” Lisa Rein’s tweet? Who the hell knows?
– They are all white
– They are among the highest-paid employees in the newsroom, making double and even triple what some other National desk reporters are making, particularly journalists of color
– They are among the “stars” who “get away with murder” on social media. 10/
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
Felicia Sonmez has been very publicly trashing her employer for nearly a week now and she’s still employed by the Washington Post, so maybe she’s effectively getting away with murder, too.
Of course the Washington Post is a great workplace.
It is a great workplace *for them.*
The system is working *for them.*
What about for everyone else?
The General Assignment team? The Morning Mix team? The newsletter researchers? 11/ https://t.co/ZndIMq5RZe
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
It’s almost like she’s trying to get suspended or fired so she can start writing long, unhinged Twitter rants about that.
Many, *many* Post employees want the long-standing problems at the company to be addressed, not ignored.
The frustration has manifested itself not just on Twitter, but also in the Post’s employee retention problems, laid out here in painstaking detail by @PostGuild. 12/ https://t.co/rtb5VdGeWB
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
Speaking of pain, Felicia Sonmez is downright insufferable.
She's still at it, currently on a 15 tweet thread about her absolutely shit-brained email where she turned Uvalde and Buffalo into a complaint about how she was punished once for a thing. pic.twitter.com/Ntw17ySJ05
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) June 9, 2022
She’s got a whole case of victim cards just ready to throw down at every opportunity.
Day 6
Felicia Sonmez blasts her colleagues who publicly defended the Washington Post noting that “they are all white” pic.twitter.com/fL09zsYesL
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) June 9, 2022
Unlike Felicia?
Is she not white?
— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) June 9, 2022
Hold up…this person isn’t white? https://t.co/nDlFX6OjVs pic.twitter.com/x24NhD6syo
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) June 9, 2022
She looks pretty white. Maybe not Shaun-King-white, but still white.
The online-harassment machine that’s sought to trivialize all this as a “Twitter spat” will eventually move on to other targets.
But these long-standing issues at the Post remain.
To borrow an analogy, working at a big news organization is like living in a big city… 13/ pic.twitter.com/1gJUdzd67g
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
Emergencies like corrections come up every day. That’s normal.
Are sexist or racist tweets “normal” emergencies? Is the denigration of a class of people a “normal” emergency?
Or are those things a sign of deeper problems within a newsroom rife with unequal treatment? 14/
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
To those bizarrely attacking me for speaking out, or snidely saying things like “Day 7” — of course I’m still speaking out.
This is about systemic issues that run far deeper than a single tweet by any employee. Pushing for change takes far longer than 7 days. 15/
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
And to the many folks inside and outside the Post who have voiced support and joined in calling for institutional change, thank you.
I’m sorry I haven’t been able to reply to everyone yet because my DMs and inbox have been flooded (a good problem!!). But you all rock. ❤️ 16/16
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) June 9, 2022
Did we mention she’s insufferable?
https://t.co/Qo7xjb8u4E pic.twitter.com/SaUcrJyHv9
— Wu1f (@Wu1f_tketkr) June 9, 2022
“Trauma” from reading a news story.
Maybe Felicia is really an undercover Republican agent sent to destroy the Washington Post.
Or she needs clinical help.
Either way, I’m good watching this schadenfreude play out. #popcorn https://t.co/6ni8eJObBW
— cosmoscon (@CosmosconBlog) June 9, 2022
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with additional text and tweets.
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