It’s HER fault
Yes it’s just a bed of roses being a woman in journalism or any other bit of public life.
It was supposed to be an upbeat town hall to rally the newsroom, as Washington Post leaders highlighted their moves to defend reporter SEUNG MIN KIM from internet trolls. But sources tell us the March 16 Zoom meeting with hundreds of staffers went off the rails briefly when FELICIA SONMEZ, a breaking news reporter who has spoken openly about her experience as a sexual assault survivor, typed a pointed comment in the chat box: “I wish editors had publicly supported me in the same way.”
Sonmez was referring to an incident that occurred the day KOBE BRYANT died in January 2020. Former top editor MARTY BARON and upper management suspended Sonmez for tweeting a reminder that the basketball legend being showered in praise had also been accused of raping a woman. The Post retracted the suspension after more than 300 reporters signed a letter demanding her reinstatement. It also sent physical protection for Sonmez, who had to leave her house after her Bryant missive went viral and she received death threats.
Well you can see their issue though. On the one hand, a basketball legend. On the other hand, some woman journalist. You do the math. Male athletes are important. Female journalists are not. Female anythings are not, to be perfectly honest.
More than a year after the incident, the wounds are still fresh. On Friday night, Sonmez publicly criticized her boss, national editor STEVEN GINSBERG, after he was quoted in a Vanity Fair piece about the need to support female journalists when they’re subjected to harassment online. “Wish the same Post editor who is quoted in this piece supported me when I was doxxed and had to leave my home,” she wrote on Twitter, adding Ginsberg’s handle. (The decision to suspend her was made by Baron.)
She didn’t stop there. Sonmez also publicized that she is barred from writing about anything related to sexual misconduct or #MeToo. According to several people familiar with the decision, the prohibition began around the time that sexual misconduct allegations surfaced against Supreme Court Justice BRETT KAVANAUGH, and continued recently with news about Rep. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-N.Y.) acknowledging she is a survivor of assault as well as the harassment allegations against New York Gov. ANDREW CUOMO.
Well if that’s their policy it means no female journalists can report on sexual assault, because all women have experienced it. Nice little racket. Also nice little incentive for men who like to grab them by the pussy to do it to every female journalist they can reach, so that no woman can cover the story. Also nice way to damage the careers of all female journalists.
Sonmez, according to emails obtained by Playbook, has implored senior management at the Post to reverse the coverage ban. In an email to Ginsberg and his deputies last May, she wrote that “it is humiliating to again and again have to tell my colleagues and editors that I am not allowed to do my job fully because I was assaulted.”
Punish the victim to protect the perps. Nice all around.
Not only that, but it was a woman he assaulted.
As for the ban, the ideal of objectivity has its place, and should be practiced in certain settings, like science and mostly in journalism, but I do think suggesting that there must always be balanced coverage that is “fair” to everyone almost always revictimizes the victim, and also leads us to believe that things are not really as bad for women as they are. And not allowing someone who has been assaulted to cover cases on assault is just…well, it manages to sterilize the reporting so people who haven’t been through it don’t grasp the horror of it. Maybe every now and then, compassion should substitute just a bit for objectivity, as long as the reporter manages to be fair, not to draw conclusions that aren’t warranted, and get the facts straight. That can be handled by an editor and fact-checker, and shouldn’t need a ban.
That’s what I mean. The fact that he assaulted her is trivial because he’s a male athlete and she’s just a woman.
Oh, okay. I thought you meant the female journalist, not the woman he assaulted (unless she was a journalist; I don’t remember. I have trouble keeping all the assaults straight, there are so many).
Heh, sorry, one of those pronoun ambiguity problems.
Have they just admitted that their editoral board and fact-checkers are lazy, or incompetent? Or do they screen all of their staff for past victimization and bar them from reporting on any stories that might possibly touch on it? Been burgled? No reporting on B&Es for you. Ditto cartheft or racist hate crimes. Why do I get the feeling that there is no suchpolicy surrounding being the victim of these other crimes?
I wonder how many stories they’ve run about the oppression and victimization of TIMS written by TIMs? I’ll bet it’s a non-zero number.
If they applied this rule to all areas of reporting, they would be left with a few pages of classified ads and nothing more. Presumably all of their journalists vote, does that mean nobody can cover elections? (Don’t be silly, that would affect men)