WaPo Reporter Wrongfully Suspended After Kobe Bryant’s Death Calls Out Paper’s Top Editor to Explain Decision
Photo credit: Eric Baradat, AFP/Getty Images.
Felicia Sonmez, the Washington Post national political reporter suspended for tweets she posted after the death of basketball star Kobe Bryant, publicly called out her newspaper’s top editor to explain his disciplinary decision that she claimed had “sown confusion” about the masthead’s goal of truth telling.
In a series of tweets on Tuesday night, the just-reinstated Sonmez released a statement that directly challenged Post editor-in-chief Marty Baron and insisted that he be more forthcoming to clear up the competing, vague explanations about why she was suspended on Sunday and his private email chastising her. The newspaper acknowledged her suspension was a mistake and reinstated her on Monday, but not before the move had ignited a deluge of online backlash — including from one of the Post‘s own media critics. Notably, no one from the Post apologized for the mistake.
I believe that Washington Post readers and employees, including myself, deserve to hear directly from @PostBaron on the newspaper’s handling of this matter. My statement on The Post’s decision tonight: pic.twitter.com/t5ULzUQhYT
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) January 29, 2020
“Washington Post journalists endeavor to live up to the paper’s mission statement, which states ‘The newspaper shall tell ALL the truth so far as it can learn it, concerning the important affairs of America and the world.’ My suspension, and Mr. Baron’s Jan. 26 email warning me that my tweets about a matter of public record were ‘hurting this institution,’ have unfortunately sown confusion about the depth of management’s commitment to this goal,” Sonmez wrote.
“I hope Washington Post newsroom leaders will not only prioritize their employees’ safety in the face of threats of physical harm but also ensure that no journalist will be punished for speaking the truth.”
