The New York Times Realizes Twitter Is Toxic, Tells Employees Not to Subweet Their Colleagues – Opinion

It should go without saying that, no matter where you work, you don’t gossip, trash talk, or openly attack your colleagues. Reporters at The Apparently, however, were not clear. New York Times that you shouldn’t be doing this on a public forum like Twitter.

Over the last several months, it’s become clear that Times reporters actually have no problem making their issues public and they have begun doing so on Twitter – a vicious hellsite notorious for allowing people to spout the vilest harassment possible with punishment doled out to violators inconsistently at best.

Twitter is well-known for doing this. You can post a video of your puppy’s cute bark and there are people out there who will jump at the opportunity to say your dog is a worthless mongrel that should be hit by a truck. The site brings out the worst of all us.

However, it seems that newsroom drama has become so bad that they have to shut down. Times‘s executive editor, Dean Baquet, had to issue a memo to employees saying, essentially, “You don’t have to be on Twitter, and if you are for God’s sake stop attacking your colleagues.”

Baquet wrote that maintaining a Twitter presence is now “purely optional” for Times journalists.

“If you do choose to stay on, we encourage you to meaningfully reduce how much time you’re spending on the platform, tweeting or scrolling, in relation to other parts of your job,” he wrote.

Baquet said that the Times will also intensify its support for journalists subject to harassment via social media.

“This is an industry-wide scourge, but we are determined to take action,” he wrote.

Baquet also said that “tweets or subtweets that attack, criticize or undermine the work of your colleagues are not allowed.”

The actual memo is here:

The third point is to stress that social media content must reflect The Times values and conform to our social media guidelines. Particularly, you are forbidden from sending tweets or posting subtweets to criticize, attack or undermine your coworkers’ work. This will damage The Times’ reputation and undermine our efforts to promote a culture that trusts all people.

Masthead editors and department heads, as well as our Standards department, will closely examine how Times journalists use social networking to make sure it conforms to our guidelines.

It’s quite innovative. Media outlets have been pushing engagement on social media in order to drive traffic and conversation about the stories they’re promoting. While social media standards have been fairly consistent over time, reporters seem to be able to make their own rules. TimesEither the standard were ignored or they never existed in the first place. I find it highly unlikely that it’s the latter.

You will find a relaxed atmosphere in the TimesWhere they believe that their standards are higher than others. They have the highest esteem paper in America, if not the world. Those rules aren’t for them. No matter what their opinions are, they have the right to express themselves on social media.

Especially when your newspaper has given you room to run rampant on social media over what’s published before.

One can’t help but wonder what exactly led to this memo, though it’s likely to just be months and months of build-up.  My guess is that Nikole Henderson-Jones was the one responsible for many complaints which the leaders of the times have had to address. She doesn’t cover herself in a whole lot of glory when she tweets, usually attacking detractors with ad hominem deflections and incorrect information (just like her beloved 1619 Project).

Of course, the larger point of the memo is that they know online harassment of journalists is a thing (and it is, whether you think it’s deserved or not) and that their journalists are no longer required to be on social media to raise engagement of their stories. It should be acknowledged that the harassment came from within the house.

Twitter can be a terrible place. It is possible to try and make the most out of social media but it doesn’t always feel worth it. Many journalists should probably delete their accounts to get more fresh air.