This archive report was first published on 14 August 2019.
On August 13, 2019, The New York Times announced the demotion of deputy Washington editor Jonathan Weisman following a series of incidents on Twitter.
According to a statement from the newspaper, Weisman met with Executive Editor Dean Baquet and apologized for his recent lapses in judgment. As a consequence of his actions, he has been demoted and will no longer oversee the team that covers Congress or be active on social media.
Over the past few weeks, Weisman faced intense criticism for his behavior on social media, including deleting a tweet that suggested Democratic Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar were not truly from the Midwest, and tweeting that the Justice Democrats were backing a candidate 'seeking to unseat an African-American Democrat.'
Author Roxane Gay, who occasionally writes op-ed pieces for The Times, mocked Weisman for the tweet and received an email from him, her assistant, and her book publisher demanding an 'enormous apology.'
Gay reacted to the emails, saying she was 'legitimately shocked.'
Internally, people inside The Times were alarmed at Weisman's behavior on social media, with one reporter stating that his tweets 'just take away from all the hard work people have done.'
Executive Editor Dean Baquet told CNN Business that he decided to host an employee town hall on Monday in part because of Weisman's recent behavior on social media.
