Posted on 08/02/2018 11:46:24 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
The New York Times stood by its decision to hire technology writer Sarah Jeong to its editorial board despite the emergence of racially insensitive tweets she had posted a few years ago.
Jeong was hired by The Times on Wednesday, but the newspaper soon received strong backlash from social media and some conservative outlets after tweets emerged in which the technology writer made racially insensitive comments.
Oh man its kind of sick how much joy I get out of being cruel to old white men, Jeong, 49, said in a tweet from 2014 that has since deleted.
Dumbass fing white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on fire hydrants, Jeong said in another 2014 tweet.
A third tweet posted by Jeong in 2014 said: Are white people genetically predisposed to burn faster in the sun, thus logically being only fit to live underground like groveling goblins.
The Times said in a statement on Thursday that it stood by its decision to hire Jeong, adding it had reviewed the writer's social media accounts prior to her hiring, while calling the content of the tweets "unacceptable."
"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.
The Times added that Jeong, as a "young Asian woman," had been the "subject of frequent online harassment," and that "for a period of time she responded to that harassment by imitating the rhetoric of her harassers."
The newspaper added that Jeong knows "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."
Meanwhile, Jeong, in the Times statement, expressed regret for the tweets.
"I engaged in what I thought of at the time of counter-trolling. While it was intended as satire, I deeply regret that I mimicked the language of my harassers," she said.
"These comments were not aimed at a general audience, because general audiences do not engage in harassment campaigns. I can understand how hurtful these posts are out of context, and would not do it again." The Times response comes after conservative outlets and social media slammed the paper for condoning "racist" remarks.
"Newest Member of NYT Editorial Board Has History of Racist Tweets" read a headline in National Review. Meanwhile, The Federalist posted a story with the headline "New York Times Hires Left-Wing Writer With Long History Of Racist Tweets," while Daily Caller said: "NYTIMES NEWEST HIRE SENT TONS OF ANTI-WHITE RACIST TWEETS."
Jeong also faced criticism from social media for her posts.
Twitter has become a controversial social media platform in the current political climate, with high-profile journalists saying they might leave the platform after tweets attacking them and family members.
Hate trumps journalism - at the NY Times.
She’s a liberal Dem so the rules don’t apply at the NYT...............
Bttt
I'm gobsmacked. Who would have thought that the New York Times doesn't live by what they preach? </sarc>
Rationalization for the people they like.
Just more DEMOCRAT HYPOCRISY. Same ole s..t.
Satire?
Not buying it, lets see the "harrassing" tweets.
Or were they actually responses...
.
Shell fit right in.
> “I engaged in what I thought of at the time of counter-trolling.” <
Counter-trolling! Sweet! I wonder how long it took Sarah Jeong to think that one up. Is it too late for Roseanne Barr to also use that excuse?
These insults are very clear and very direct.
There is nothing ‘ironic or satiric’ about any of the sadistic things she proclaimed about herself.
She needs to go. That IS who she is.
“She didn’t mean it and is sorry.” -—> For leftists, that is all that is required.
Nothing to defend from what I hear. The new hire is racis’ against white folks so it’s all good.
Start packin because it will soon be legal to kill white people
Yet they accepted her. So forgive me for feeling the Times is not being honest here.
Liberals are so much better at slithering out of stuff than conservatives are.
Strange, aren’t they going to parade her around in public with gnashing acts of contrition like they do with the baseball players who wrote some private Tweet when they were 14?
Crayola looks exquisite.
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