Spencer Platt/Getty Images media New York Times examining editor’s ‘poor judgment’ on social media

The New York Times is examining a top Washington editor’s social media use after he repeatedly displayed what it called “poor judgment.”

Jonathan Weisman, the paper’s deputy Washington editor, came under fire last week for suggesting that two congresswomen of color, Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), weren’t really from the Midwest and that Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and John Lewis (D-Ga.) — an Alabama-born civil rights leader — weren’t from the Deep South.


Weisman was roundly criticized for implying that urban areas with significant minority populations in the Midwest and Deep South aren’t representative of those regions. He deleted the tweet, which he said was intended to “make a point about regional differences in politics between urban and rural areas” but “did not adequately” do so.

Another controversy erupted Wednesday after Weisman tweeted that the progressive political action committee Justice Democrats had backed an Ohio primary challenger “seeking to unseat an African-American Democrat, Joyce Beatty, who represents Columbus.” Morgan Harper, the challenger, responded to Weisman: “I am also black.” Weisman responded that he saw a photo with the endorsement.

Roxane Gay, an author and Times contributing op-ed writer, tweeted : “Any time you think you’re unqualified for a job remember that this guy, telling a black woman she isn’t black because he looked at a picture and can’t see, has one of the most prestigious jobs in America. Shoot your shot.”

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Weisman asked Gay for an “enormous apology” in an email, a request that she posted on Thursday. Gay noted that Weisman also contacted her publisher, HarperCollins.

“Jonathan has repeatedly displayed poor judgment on social media and in responding to criticism,” a Times spokesperson said in a statement to POLITICO. “We’re closely examining what to do about it.”

Journalist Yashar Ali first reported on the Times’ response.

Weisman joined the Times in 2012 as a congressional reporter after working at several prominent publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today and The Baltimore Sun.

This article tagged under: The New York Times