Bari Weiss, a writer and editor for the New York Times opinion department, quit the newspaper, citing “bullying by colleagues” and an “illiberal environment.”
In a nearly 1,500-word letter to AG Sulzberger, the publisher, Ms. Weiss offered a deep critique of Times employees and company leadership, describing a “hostile work environment” where her coworkers had insulted or asked to be removed on Twitter. and in the Slack inter-office communications application.
“I don’t understand how you have allowed this type of behavior to continue within your company in full view of all newspaper staff and the public,” he wrote.
Sulzberger declined to comment. In a statement, Eileen Murphy, a Times spokeswoman, said: “We are committed to fostering an environment of honest dialogue, of seeking and empathy among 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 editor and writer for Op-Ed in 2017 as part of the newspaper’s effort to broaden the ideological range of its opinion. after President Trump’s inauguration.
Weiss, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, is known to question aspects of social justice movements that have taken root in recent years. She criticized a woman who described an uncomfortable encounter with comedian Aziz Ansari and questioned whether sexual assault charges brought against Supreme Court justice candidate Brett Kavanaugh should disqualify him from the position.
She was also criticized for a tweet that suggested California’s US Olympic figure skating competitor Mirai Nagasu was an immigrant. (Ms. Weiss said in a later tweet that she knew Ms. Nagasu was the daughter of immigrants.)
In 2018, she wrote about the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue, where it became a bat mitzvah, in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The murder of 11 Jews led her to write the book “How to Fight Anti-Semitism,” which won the 2019 National Jewish Book Prize.
Ms. Weiss was recently criticized for online comments about the staff unrest that followed the publication of an opinion piece by Senator Tom Cotton calling for a military response to civic unrest in American cities during widespread protests against racism. and police violence.
More than 1,000 Times staff members signed a letter protesting the op-ed, and James Bennet, the editor of the editorial page, resigned days after it was published. A note from the editors was added to the essay, saying that “it did not meet our standards and should not have been published.” The Times’ opinion department runs separately from the newsroom.
In a tweet, Ms. Weiss described the turmoil within the newspaper as a “civil war” between “the wokes (mostly young)” and “the liberals (mostly 40+)”. Many staff members objected to her comment on Twitter, saying it was incorrect or misrepresented their concerns.
In his resignation letter, which was posted on his personal website Tuesday, Weiss said “intellectual curiosity” was “now a responsibility in The Times.” She added: “Twitter is not in the headline of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its latest editor. “
Kathleen Kingsbury, acting editor of the editorial page, said: “We appreciate the many contributions Bari made to Times Opinion. I am personally committed to ensuring that The Times continues to publish voices, experiences and views from across the political spectrum in the Opinion report. ”
