Washington Post’s Sally Buzbee Chides Staff After Felicia Sonmez and Jose Del Real Feud Over Dave Weigel
Articles washingtonThe Dailymail’s top editor on Sunday urged her staff to treat each other with “respect and kindness” after two reporters caused a public scuffle on Twitter over a reporter another reposted a sexist post.
Cold email from parcel Executive editor Sally Buzbee did not name but followed a social media controversy among reporters Felicia Sonmez and Jose Del Real on how Sonmez appealed parcel reporter Dave Weigel on the platform.
“We expect our staff to treat each other with respect and kindness both in the newsroom and online,” she wrote in an editorial email obtained by The Daily Beast. “We are a collective and innovative newsroom that produces an incredible amount of important and groundbreaking articles.”
“One of the strong points of the newsroom is the spirit of collaboration. The Washington Post is committed to creating an inclusive and respectful environment free from harassment, discrimination, or favoritism of any kind,” added Buzbee. “When problems arise, please raise them with leadership or HR and we will resolve them quickly and reliably.”
The entanglements began to arise on Friday when Weigel, one of the newspaper’s prominent political reporters, retweeted a post that read: “Every girl is bi. You just have to find out if it is extreme or sexual. ” The parcel Is called Weigel’s actions were “reprehensible” and he came up with a public apology.
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His tweet was also called out by Sonmez, who last year unsuccessfully sued parcel for banning her from covering up stories of sexual misconduct after she revealed she was an assault survivor.
“It’s great to work at a news outlet that allows retweets like this!” she writes.
Controversy heated up when Del Real accused Sonmez of “repeatedly publicly harassing and targeting a colleague” and claiming she was “gathering the internet to attack [Weigel] for a mistake. ”
Sonmez countered: “If you’re offended by my pointing out a sexist tweet rather than the sexism itself… all I can say is that says a lot about it. your own priorities.”
Del Real replied that “against sexism and perversion are profound issues for me,” then added, “Individually, I hope you reconsider the atrocities that you often inflict on co-workers.”
But by Sunday morning, Del Real had deactivated his Twitter account.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone more,” Del Real said in a text message to The Daily Beast. “My original tweet was asking for kindness on social media and that is what I am trying to live up to today.”
Sonmez, however, is not done yet. She took to Twitter again on Sunday to accuse Del Real of “publicly attacking[ing]” she.
“When women stand up for themselves, some respond with more vitriol. Last night, a Post colleague publicly attacked me for posting another colleague’s sexist tweet,” she said. speak. “He first hid any replies that protested his attacks and now appears to have deleted his account.”
Weigel did not return The Daily Beast’s request for comment, but he has been at the center of controversy before.
In 2010, leaked emails revealed his desire to be approved by the right-wing radio kingpin. Rush Limbaugh and hope media mogul Matt Drudge will “Self-immolation.” Those controversial emails, which made the conservative media like alcohol, led to his resignation at The Post.
“The sad truth is that the Washington Post, generally desperate for page views, now hires journalists without much adult supervision and without proper toilet training, ” Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg Written at the time was slamming Weigel.
