A staff writer and editor for The New York Times said she has opted to leave the venerable newspaper due to “constant bullying,” she said Tuesday.
Bari Weiss has served as one of the primary editors in the publication’s opinion section. She joined the Times in 2017, and she said since then the emphasis on journalistic integrity has been compromised by the influence of Twitter becoming the “ultimate editor.”
“Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions,” she said in her resignation letter. “I was always taught that journalists were charged with writing the first rough draft of history. Now, history itself is one more ephemeral thing molded to fit the needs of a predetermined narrative.”
By Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump had weighed in via his Twitter page, characterizing the media company as “fake news” in light of Weiss’ resignation.
Weiss had become known for editorials that criticize the politicians and policies on the right and left. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, “her writing, which includes criticism of the right and the left, doesn’t lend itself easily to labels.” She published the book “How to Fight Anti-Semitism” in 2017.
She said she was “saddened” to leave and honored to be part of the efforts to bring a variety of voices to the editorial pages including Venezuelan dissident Wuilly Arteaga; the Iranian chess champion Dorsa Derakhshani; and the Hong Kong Christian democrat Derek Lam, Thomas Chatterton Williams and Wesley Yang.
Weiss said her reason for resigning is that she felt she was being bullied and did not comply with the opinion section leaning left.
“My own forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views. They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how I’m “writing about the Jews again.” Several colleagues perceived to be friendly with me were badgered by coworkers. My work and my character are openly demeaned on company-wide Slack channels where masthead editors regularly weigh in. There, some coworkers insist I need to be rooted out if this company is to be a truly “inclusive” one, while others post ax emojis next to my name.”
Read the entire resignation letter here.
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