Washington Post reporter sues paper for discrimination

Washington Post politics reporter Felicia Sonmez sued the paper and a number of other of its present and former editors for discriminating towards her as a sufferer of sexual assault.
In a swimsuit filed Wednesday in D.C. Superior Court, Sonmez stated she was not allowed to report on sexual misconduct after she issued an announcement in September 2018 on the resignation of a Los Angeles Times journalist who she stated had assaulted her in China. He has stated what occurred was consensual.
Sonmez stated in that assertion that she was grateful the Times took her allegations significantly however criticized the way it dealt with the investigation, and stated that the response of establishments is crucial to combatting sexual misconduct.
She stated the Post then barred her from writing about Christine Blasey Ford’s sexual assault allegations towards Brett Kavanaugh, now a Supreme Court justice. She stated Cameron Barr, the Post’s managing editor, instructed her she had “taken a side on the issue” of sexual assault by speaking about her personal expertise publicly, whereas Steven Ginsburg, the Post’s nationwide editor, instructed her that “it would present `the appearance of a conflict of interest’” for her to report on sexual misconduct.
Sonmez stated the ban was later prolonged in order that she couldn’t cowl sexual misconduct in any respect, and that she was steadily taken off tales.
The paper additionally put her on depart in January 2020 after she tweeted a hyperlink to a narrative a couple of 2003 rape allegation towards Kobe Bryant hours after he died. She was cleared to return to work after intense criticism of the suspension from Post colleagues.
The ban, in the meantime, was lifted in March 2021, the day after a Politico story a bout the Post’s protection ban and Sonmez’s criticism of how editors had not supported her when she was threatened on-line.
Sonmez’s swimsuit stated she suffered humiliation and emotional misery due to the alleged discriminatory conduct, which she stated violated the D.C. Human Rights Act, in addition to bodily ache from grinding her enamel at night time that led to 2 surgical procedures to alleviate her jaw ache.
She is asking for damages and to power the paper to take steps to treatment its conduct and stop comparable conditions.
Sonmez sued Barr, Ginsburg, former Post government editor Marty Baron, managing editor Tracy Grant, deputy nationwide editor Lori Montgomery, who on Thursday was named the Post’s enterprise editor, and senior politics editor Peter Wallsten. Baron declined to remark in each an e-mail and a LinkedIn message.

Washington Post spokesperson Kris Coratti declined to touch upon the swimsuit.
Former Associated Press government editor Sally Buzbee was named as Baron’s substitute as the top of the Post’s newsroom in May.