Set off Warning: Sexual assault and rape.
I’ll stage with y’all, this story shouldn’t be enjoyable. However the information should go on.
The Washington Post suspended reporter Felicia Sonmez after she tweeted out a 2016 story that detailed Kobe Bryant’s 2003 sexual assault case. Sonmez initially tweeted a hyperlink to a Each day Beast article entitled, “Kobe Bryant’s Disturbing Rape Case: The DNA Proof, the Accuser’s Story, and the Half-Confession.” with none commentary — she merely shared the hyperlink and the title of the story.
Kobe Bryant was accused of sexual assault in 2003. The case didn’t make it trial, however the 19-year-old accuser filed a civil criticism. Bryant settled out of court docket and the felony expenses have been dismissed. In his public apology, he acknowledged:
“Though I really imagine this encounter between us was consensual, I acknowledge now that she didn’t and doesn’t view this incident the identical manner I did.”
The Each day Beast story included accounts of the accuser’s expertise all through the ordeal, together with that she was “dragged by way of the mud for months by the media and Bryant’s protection crew.”
After tweeting out the story, Sonmez acquired an onslaught of responses, starting from distaste for her determination to tweet the story so quickly, to straight-up loss of life threats. Sonmez then made a number of replies to the tweet, however finally was pressured to delete them after administration on the Post requested her to take them down. The Post subsequently put her on administrative go away.
(Betches Sup doesn’t endorse the angle of the under tweet. It has been included to show Sonmez’s authentic tweets.)
Washington Post reporter @feliciasonmez deleted her crass tweets about Kobe Bryant. However display screen grabs are ceaselessly – and I took some earlier than she deleted the tweets.
Bye, Felicia. pic.twitter.com/IvNZHkiBam
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) January 26, 2020
In response to WaPo managing editor Tracy Grant: “Nationwide political reporter Felicia Sonmez was positioned on administrative go away whereas The Post critiques whether or not tweets concerning the loss of life of Kobe Bryant violated The Post newsroom’s social media coverage. The tweets displayed poor judgment that undermined the work of her colleagues.”
A bit obscure tbh. After receiving loss of life threats, Sonmez tweeted: “Effectively, THAT was eye-opening. To the 10,000 folks (actually) who’ve commented and emailed me with abuse and loss of life threats, please take a second and browse the story — which was written 3+ years in the past, and never by me. Any public determine is price remembering of their totality, even when that public determine is beloved and that totality unsettling.”
She added: “That folk are responding with rage & threats towards me (somebody who didn’t even write the piece however discovered it well-reported) speaks volumes concerning the stress folks come below to remain silent in these instances.”
In one in every of her Twitter posts, Sonmez included a screengrab of her e-mail inbox containing the e-mail names of people that’d despatched her disturbing messages of abuse.
In an interview with The Erik Wemple Weblog, Sonmez says she despatched an e-mail to her editor (Grant) to clarify how she feared for her security, and included her tweets to showcase how out of hand the entire scenario had gotten. Grant informed her to delete the tweets, and warned her if she didn’t, she would be “in violation of a directive from a managing editor.” Grant additionally informed Sonmez that the Post’s concern together with her tweets was that they didn’t pertain to her “protection space” and that “your conduct on social media is making it more durable for others to do their work as Washington Post journalists.”
Observe to self: if Betches ever looks like I can’t tweet about something outdoors of my protection space, I’m lé f*cked, as a result of I’ve a lotttttt of tweets about random sh*t. Editor’s Observe: By no means cease, Irene.
It’s nonetheless not utterly clear why Sonmez has been placed on suspension. The Post continues to be reviewing whether or not or not she has violated their phrases, however it appears unlikely or at the very least problematic that sharing a hyperlink to a reputable web site can be in violation of such phrases. Some have speculated that the suspension is as a result of Sonmez launched private info of the folks attacking her when she included the screenshot of her e-mail inbox, though Sonmez says that was by no means introduced up in her alternate with administration.
The Washington Post Guild tweeted out a press release in solidarity with Sonmez, saying:
“Felicia acquired an onslaught of violent messages, together with threats that contained her residence tackle, within the wake of a tweet Sunday relating to Kobe Bryant. As a substitute of defending and supporting a reporter within the face of abuse, The Post positioned her on administrative go away whereas newsroom leaders assessment whether or not she violated the social media coverage. Felicia needed to go away her residence out of concern for her security and has gotten inadequate steerage from The Post on methods to shield herself.
We perceive the hours after Bryant’s loss of life Sunday have been a fraught time to share reporting about previous accusations of sexual assault. The lack of such a beloved determine, and of so many different lives, is a tragedy. However we imagine it’s our accountability as a information group to inform the general public the entire reality as we all know it — about figures and establishments each in style and unpopular, at moments well timed and premature.”
Our assertion in help of our colleague, Felicia Sonmez: https://t.co/2GDbANeybb
— Washington Post Guild (@PostGuild) January 27, 2020
Irrespective of how you’re feeling about citing a disturbing allegation throughout a delicate time comparable to this — there are many opinions available on that — it’s reasonably scary to see one of many nation’s most revered publications droop one in every of its reporters for posting a hyperlink to a reputable information story that entails reporting on rape.
In different information, every little thing is dangerous and I want I may sleep for the subsequent 2-25 years. Ciao!
Wish to sustain with the information with out crying into your unhappy desk salad? Subscribe to the Betches Sup publication for a lunchtime briefing to make you snicker, as an alternative of cry, concerning the information.
Photographs: Twitter (2), Giphy (1)