NY Times stands by tweeter
THE New York Times on Thursday was supporting its latest editorial board hire — despite revelations that she has made some racist tweets aimed at white people.
Tech writer Sarah Jeong has drawn fire on social media for a series of tweets she made several years ago that bashed “dumbass f– king white people,” whom she derides in another tweet as “groveling goblins.”
The Times does not condone the remarks, the paper said.
Jeong said she was imitating the language of her online harassers and intended it as “satire” — but now “deeply regrets that I imitated the language of my harassers.”
Jeong, a South Korea native, tweeted in November 2014: “Dumbass f–king white people marking up the Internet with their opinions like dogs p--sing on fire hydrants.”
In another tweet, she asks, “Are white people genetically predisposed to burn faster in the sun, thus logically being only fit to live underground like groveling goblins.”
In a third tweet, Jeong wrote: “Oh man, it’s kind of sick how much joy I get out of being cruel to old white men.”
Some took to Twitter to wonder whether the Times ever bothered to check her social media background before hiring her.
The paper on Thursday insisted it was aware of the remarks and is standing by her and insisted her comments were reactions to vicious online bashing attacking her background.
“We hired Sarah Jeong because of the exceptional work she has done covering the internet and technology at a range of respected publications,” the Times said in a statement.
“Her journalism and the fact that she is a young Asian woman have made her a subject of frequent online harassment,” the newspaper added. “For a period of time she responded to that harass- ment by imitating the rhetoric of her harassers. She sees now that this approach only served to feed the vitriol that we too often see on social media. She regrets it, and The Times does not condone it.”
The paper said it had “candid conversations” with Jeong during the hiring process — and went over her social media history.
“She understands that this type of rhetoric is not acceptable at The Times and we are confident that she will be an important voice for the editorial board moving forward,” the newspaper said.
Jeong said, “I engaged in what I thought of at the time [as] counter-trolling. While it was intended as satire, I deeply regret that I mimicked the language of my harassers.”
More News layoffs
The Daily News quietly showed five more staffers to the door, pushing the number hit by the devastating mass layoffs to 98 people.
A New York state WARN notice filed this week listed the newest layoffs as members of “digital services,” involved in putting together digital ads for advertisers.
The company laid off half of its newsroom on July 23, hitting the photo and sports departments particularly hard. More than four dozen newsroom employees were laid off, but a subsequent WARN notice published on July 25 pegged the total number of layoffs at 93, which included departments as far-flung as phone operators and librarians in New York and cafeteria workers at the Jersey City printing plant.
No drivers or pressmen in Jersey City were laid off, but the early buzz is that the company will try to obtain concessions from its unionized workforce next.
Tronc, the Chicago-based parent company, put the brakes on a 50-cent price hike that was originally going to go into effect on Aug. 6. The buzz is that it will be instituted after Labor Day, but retailers and newsstand operators have not been told anything beyond canceling the earlier hike.
Condé diversifies
A day after it was revealed that Condé Nast is trying to unload three of its magazines, CEO Bob Sauerberg sent an e-mail to staffers, saying the goal is to have a 50-50 mix of advertising and nonadvertising revenue streams as the company focuses on its core titles.
He also revealed there is a monthly task force now operating with Condé Nast International Chairman Jonathan Newhouse to “identify certain projects on which we can work together.”
“By collaborating with CNI, we should be able to surpass the international capabilities of many of our competitors,” Sauerberg said.
The company is trying to reverse losses of more than $100 million in 2017, even as print advertising continues to erode.
“We all recognize the challenges we’ve been facing for some time, including the radical transformation of the advertising landscape,” he said.
“We must embrace all the platforms available to us — the Web, video, social, audio, print — and evolve with our audiences and ad partners. Let me be more specific. We must diversify our sources of revenue to a 50-50 mix of advertising and nonadvertising.”
He also officially acknowledged the news that three magazines are on the block, saying, “We are going to begin a strategic review of Brides, Golf Digest and W.”
“This has been a complicated period, there is no doubt, but our numbers are improving,” he said. “Our revenue is on track to hit our goals.”