Felicia Sonmez, a reporter for The Washington Post who has been at the center of a debate over the organization’s social media policies and newsroom culture for the past few days, was fired on Thursday, according to three people with knowledge of the question. on condition of anonymity to deal with staff matters.
Ms. Sonmez was fired by email Thursday afternoon, according to one person. In a letter of dismissal sent by e-mail, which was seen by the New York Times, to Ms. Sonmez was told that The Post was ending his work, effective immediately, “for misconduct that includes insubordination, defaming his co-workers online, and violating The Post’s standards of collegiality and inclusion. work ”.
The email, from Wayne Connell, the Post’s human resources director, also said Ms. Sonmez’s “public attempts to question the motives of your fellow journalists” undermined The Post’s reputation.
“We cannot allow him to continue working as a journalist representing the Washington Post,” the letter said.
Ms. Sonmez’s internal Slack account was shut down Thursday afternoon, according to a screenshot seen by The Times. Contacted by phone, Ms. Sonmez said a statement from The Washington Post Newspaper Guild would arrive.
The guild statement said it would not comment on individual staffing issues. “We represent and support all members facing discipline,” he said.
Ms. Sonmez, a national political journalist, sued the newspaper and several top-level editors last year, saying she had been discriminated against for preventing her from covering stories about sexual assault after she had publicly identified herself as a victim. of aggression. The case was dismissed in March, and Ms. Sonmez said at the time that he planned to travel.
Last week, it was at the center of a public storm over newsroom culture. On Friday, Dave Weigel, a political journalist for the newspaper, retweeted a sexist joke that implied that women were bisexual or bipolar. Ms Sonmez tweeted: “It’s great to work in a news medium where retweets like this are allowed!”
Mr. Weigel apologized for the tweet. He was suspended by The Post on Monday for a month without pay, according to a person familiar with the matter.
At that time, Mrs. Sonmez got into a disagreement on Twitter with Jose A. Del Real, a journalist who acknowledged that Mr. Weigel was “unacceptable,” but warned Ms. Sonmez for “summoning the Internet to attack” Mr. Weigel. Mr. Royal later sent several tweets about a “relentless series of attacks” against him, and Ms. Sonmez asked why The Post had done nothing to reprimand him for his tweets about her, including one he said was involved in “repeated and directed.” public harassment of a colleague “.
Updated
June 9, 2022, 6:05 p.m. ET
In the following days, Ms. Sonmez wrote numerous posts on Twitter about the culture of the newsroom in The Post and what he said was the unequal way in which his social media policy was applied to different journalists. He sometimes fought with other journalists on The Post on Twitter.
Many in the newsroom supported Ms. Sonmez during her lawsuit and thanked her for her defense of victims of sexual abuse, according to two current Post employees, but sentiment began to change this week as she continued to tweet about The Post.
Some felt Ms. Sonmez was harming the institution and disagreed with her use of public forums to criticize co-workers, people said.
Others had problems with their response to an email from national publisher Matea Gold, who had urged people to take care of their mental health following the shootings last month in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas.
Ms. Sonmez sent a response to the newsroom saying she had been punished once after telling an editor that she had to walk around after reading a difficult story.
Mrs. Sonmez defended herself in another set of tweets on Thursday morning, before being fired, saying: “I really care about my colleagues and I want this institution to support all employees. Right now, the Post is a place where many of us fear that our trauma will be used against us, based on the company’s past actions.
The fight has been a kind of leadership test for Sally Buzbee, who became the executive editor of The Post last June. Ms. Buzbee wrote two notes to the newsroom last week asking her classmates not to attack each other on social media.
“The social media policy of the newsroom specifically points to the need for collegiality,” wrote Ms. Buzbee in an email Tuesday.
Benjamin Mullin contributed to the report.