Up next
Author
Tags

Yesterday, the Washington Post meltdown got bad enough that even the View was doing a segment on it. Also yesterday, Vanity Fair published a detailed piece on the story including some anonymous comments from people at the paper who were fed up with Felicia Sonmez. Naturally, Sonmez has decided to air all of her grievances with that article and her colleagues on Twitter today. And yes, she’s upping the ante a bit by bringing race into it. Let’s walk through this s**tstorm together, shall we?

As I’ve pointed out before, much of this is a rehash of her lawsuit. She felt her trauma as a victim of sexual abuse was held against her by the Post which told her she could not write about certain #MeToo topics. That ban was eventually rescinded but Sonmez filed a lawsuit saying it had done harm to her both personally and professionally. In March a judge dismissed the suit with prejudice meaning it’s over, at least legally. But she’s clearly not moving on.

And this brings her back again to the Vanity Fair article:

She doesn’t want an answer of course but the answer is obvious. People are tired of her attacks. She’s focused not just on the employees who spoke to Vanity Fair but also those who started tweeting out how proud they were to work for the Post under their own names. None of those tweets mentioned Sonmez but as I suggested here they were clearly intended as a way to reject the badmouthing of the paper coming from her.

Those employees, she suggests are the “white” stars of the newsroom who get away with murder on social media and get paid more than “journalists of color.”

She’s not saying they are racist, at least not using the old school definition of racism. But she is suggesting pretty strongly that the Washington Post has a white supremacy problem. And as much as I’m sure the Post is 100% on board with Ibram Kendi style anti-racism, this shows the problem with that framework. At any moment someone who clearly wants to make their employer pay (again she sued them over this) can level these allegations and bring everything to a grinding halt. And using the logic of Robin DiAngelo, anyone who denies they have a white supremacy problem is only proving they have a white supremacy problem. So there’s no response to these allegations that can possibly be adequate except an admission of guilt. However Sally Buzbee responds to this now, she loses.

The problem with Sonmez whole performance is that it’s really premised on just 2-3 things. A bad tweet for which an employee was already suspended without pay. The lawsuit she lost. And the reaction of other employees to her endless monologues on Twitter. So, of course she needs to make this about “systemic issues” because she doesn’t have enough actual issues to justify all of this. You see it’s not Dave Weigel’s momentary retweet that’s the problem, it’s the whole damn system. Thus the problem hasn’t been dealt with and much more change is needed until Felicia Sonmez is satisfied.

She’s running the Kendi/DiAngelo playbook to a T. Praise for her and her agenda is welcome of course but any criticism, even from people who work in the same newsroom and have a different experience, is proof the Post has serious systemic issues. Honestly, I just wish a few of the progressive at the Post would see this for what it is and then reflect on it a bit. What Sonmez is doing to their workplace is what Kendi and DiAngelo are trying to do to everyone’s workplace.

Of course the real point of this Kafka trap is that Felicia Sonmez gets to bash her employer all day, every day and no one who disagrees with her can respond. Any response a) is proof there’s a systemic problem and b) proof she’s a victim of that system. The one thing we’re not allowed to consider is that the criticism she’s receiving is well deserved.

There is a simple solution to all of this. The Post needs to take the necessary steps to move Sonmez to the exit. I would be shocked if they aren’t already taking those steps. But because of her prior lawsuit they have to document everything very carefully and probably allow her some period of time to rectify her behavior before taking further action. That will help insulate them from the next lawsuit she files. It may seem from the outside like nothing is happening but I think the Post is just taking notes on all of this and creating an iron-clad case for dismissal.

Update: We all knew it was coming but I’ll admit I didn’t think it would come this quickly.

This is well deserved at this point. Sonmez made a mockery of the executive editor’s attempts to tone this down. Is anyone else going to hire her after this? Given the prior lawsuit and now this, I’m not sure who that would be.

Update: The NY Times has a story up.

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.”

The email also said Ms. Sonmez’s “public attempts to question the motives of your co-journalists” undermined The Post’s reputation.

“We cannot allow you to continue to work as a journalist representing The Washington Post,” the letter said.

Source: