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 the controversy on social media between reporters Felicia Sonmez and Jose Del Real on how Sonmez calls 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.

Can’t get enough of this report? Ordered here to receive Confider, The Daily Beast’s media newsletter.

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.”

By Sunday morning, Del Real had deactivated his Twitter account.

Sonmez, however, was not finished. 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 to his attacks and now appears to have deleted his account.”

Hours later, and following Buzbee’s advice, Del Real returned to the platform on Sunday afternoon in self-defense.

“In the hope of de-escalating, I have temporarily deactivated my account, amid a series of online abuses directed by one person but perpetrated by an eager mob. The attacks from one side continued even after I stopped participating. I know the old adage: Hurting people hurts people,” wrote Del Real.

“In such circumstances, it is difficult to draw the line between sympathy and the challenge of compassion. My instinct is to defend myself. But I say a big game of kindness, and I’m going to try to practice some of that right now by moving on and off. “

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 showed him jokingly commenting on the death of the right-wing radio kingpin Rush Limbaugh and hope media mogul Matt Drudge will “Self-immolation. Those controversial emails, which fumed the conservative media, led to his offer to resign at 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 of slamming Weigel.