Writer quits ‘Times’ in bullying protest
NEW YORK: Bari Weiss, a writer and editor for the opinion department of The New York Times, has resigned from the paper, citing “bullying by colleagues” and an “illiberal environment”.
In a nearly 1,500-word letter addressed to AG Sulzberger, the publisher, Weiss offered a deep critique of Times employees and company leadership, describing a “hostile work environment” where co-workers had insulted her or called for her removal on Twitter and in the interoffice communications app Slack.
Mr Sulzberger declined to comment. In a statement, Eileen Murphy, a Times spokeswoman, said, “We’re committed to fostering an environment of honest, searching and empathetic dialogue between colleagues, one where mutual respect is required of all.”
After working at The Wall Street Journal and Tablet, an online magazine of Jewish culture and politics, Weiss joined The Times as an op-ed staff editor and writer in 2017 as part of the paper’s effort to broaden the ideological range of its opinion staff after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Weiss, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has been known to question aspects of social justice movements that have taken root in recent years. She was critical of a woman who described an uncomfortable encounter with comedian Aziz Ansari and questioned whether the sexual assault charges levelled against Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh should disqualify him from the post.
Weiss recently came under fire for online comments on the staff unrest that followed the publication of a Times op-ed piece by Senator Tom Cotton calling for a military response to civic unrest in American cities during the widespread protests against racism and police violence.
More than 1,000 Times staff members protested the op-ed’s publication, and James Bennet, the editorial page editor, resigned days after it was published. An editors’ note was added to the essay, saying it “fell short of our standards and should not have been published”.
In a tweet, Weiss described the turmoil inside the paper as a “civil war” between “the (mostly young) wokes” and “the (mostly 40+) liberals”. Many staff members said it was inaccurate or misrepresented their concerns.