Felicia Sonmez is an American journalist. She began her career as a

foreign correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

in Beijing. In 2010, she joined ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' as a political reporter. She is known for her social media activity, for which she was fired from the ''Post'' in June 2022.

Career and education

Sonmez received a B.A. in government from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 2005. After studying for the Foreign Service, Sonmez instead moved to Beijing to teach English where she began working for Japanese newspaper ''

Yomiuri Shimbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are t ...

''. She was a foreign correspondent in Beijing for

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...

and an editor for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''.

''The Washington Post''

In 2010, Sonmez joined ''

'' as a political reporter. While a national political reporter for the ''Post'' in January 2020, Sonmez was placed on administrative leave after tweeting about the sexual assault charge against

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely r ...

shortly after his

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

. The ''Post'' later concluded that she did not violate its

social media policy A social media policy is a policy which advises representatives of an organization on their use of social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other f ...

. Sonmez again drew attention in July 2021 after having sued ''The Washington Post'', alleging that the paper had discriminated against her by blocking her from covering sexual assault cases after she came forward as a survivor, with her discrimination referring to Simon Denyer, who was the Tokyo bureau chief at the ''Post'' at the time. The lawsuit was subsequently dismissed with

prejudice Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...

. Sonmez was then fired in June 2022 after publicly criticizing a colleague,

Dave Weigel David Weigel (born September 26, 1981) is an American journalist. He works for ''Semafor''. Weigel previously covered politics for ''The Washington Post,'' '' Slate,'' and ''Bloomberg Politics'' and is a contributing editor for ''Reason'' maga ...

, on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

for retweeting a supposedly misogynistic joke made by YouTuber Cam Harless. Sonmez then criticized Weigel in a tweet of her own. Weigel subsequently apologized and was suspended for a month without pay. Her firing spurred debate over social media policies for reporters, after the termination letter accused her of "insubordination, maligning your coworkers online and violating the Post's standards on workplace collegiality and inclusivity". Sonmez has sought arbitration through the Post Guild over her firing.

Personal life

Sonmez resides in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonmez, Felicia American women journalists The Washington Post journalists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women writers Harvard College alumni