Erin Overbey and the New Yorker

[Neutral Corner]

I'm not in this forum enough to know if this has been discussed elsewhere. I just saw this thread and thought I'd throw it out there to kick around. Helluva thread, and if what she's saying is accurate she's got a case.

I have no idea of what the facts actually are in fullness. Thread.

 

[Sports Barf]

She seems like she’s barrel of joy to work with. This thread is something.

 

[MisterCreosote]

Must’ve graduated from the Felicia Sonmez School of Journalism.

 

[Azrael]

She's not wrong.

 

[The Big Ragu]

She's not wrong.

She went postal on them last year going right to twitter, and then unloaded again with her firing. Among all of the allegations and the narrative. ... I'll bet she's wrong about something. ... a lot of that, actually, might have been very self-serving narrative and not all that true.

If you had to lay odds, would you take the over or the under on David Remnick inserting errors into things she fact checked to create a pretense for firing her?

If you look back at every byline since 1925, would anyone have really been surprised that the New Yorker has had a lot of white / male writers over the decades?

She's right. And she still created a twitter beef with her employer where she took that. ... and essentially used to it to make allegations about racism and sexism today.

I don't know her, but I'm a little surprised by her age and how long she has been there. It's the one thing that makes me scratch my head and wonder if there really is something to it all. It's difficult to believe someone would stay at one place that long. ... and then in their 50s, unload the way she decided to.

The flip side is that what I was reading between the lines (and maybe I have it all wrong) is that she was passed over for a job she wanted and this may have been a product of her resentment.

 

[Sports Barf]

She's not wrong.

I’m sure she’s not. But sounds like she lacks any sort of patience or tact, just impulsive and emotional

 

[Slacker]

I’m sure she’s not. But sounds like she lacks any sort of patience or tact, just impulsive and emotional

Lacks patience? She worked in that system for almost 30 years.

 

[SixToe]

Meh. She's probably right on a bunch of it but also sounds like a bitter old pill. She's known about it and worked around it for 30 years.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

She may be right. She also seems like an over-the-top PITA who made it her mission to make lives intolerable for everyone around her there. Bitching about a co-worker's qualifications and pay for their job, asking to have an editor removed from working there, and then the admitted self-plagiarism?

For how miserable she paints herself to be for however-many years there, she should be thanking them for firing her.

 

[User 150927]

Maybe after 30 years she was just exhausted.

 

[DanOregon]

I find the New Yorker and NPR's coverage of people of color is one of "pity" and "empathy" - their coverage seems to be "for" white people "about" people of color. If a person of color is mentioned in an article - odds are their struggles with racism will be included. And I'd be surprised if either has a large group of non-white subscribers/donors/listeners.

 

[Slacker]

Meh. She's probably right on a bunch of it but also sounds like a bitter old pill. She's known about it and worked around it for 30 years.

She may be right. She also seems like an over-the-top PITA who made it her mission to make lives intolerable for everyone around her there. Bitching about a co-worker's qualifications and pay for their job, asking to have an editor removed from working there, and then the admitted self-plagiarism?

For how miserable she paints herself to be for however-many years there, she should be thanking them for firing her.

The floggings will continue until morale improves.

 

[User 11148]

The floggings will continue until morale improves.

The suits got to you!

 

[Slacker]

The suits got to you!

Let 'er rip, tater chip.

 

[Sports Barf]

Lacks patience? She worked in that system for almost 30 years.

And apparently has the maturity of someone who’s been in that system for 3

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

240-character resignation letter.

 

[TrooperBari]

The threads picking apart women's experiences and questioning their motivations seem to come around earlier every year.

 

[Hot and Rickety]

"Specifically, seven sources close to the New Yorker told Gawker that Overbey’s version of events excluded critical context — namely, that each of her threads occurred after internal issues related to her conduct with colleagues, and that Overbey’s relationship with the union, on which her grievance now relies, has been fraught for the past year over some of the same subjects she claimed to have spoken up about. All seven sources also noted that Overbey’s threads had consistently taken magazine staff by surprise, because she has almost everyone in the newsroom — including high-ranking writers, young women, staffers of color, and the majority of the union membership — blocked on Twitter."

How Erin Overbey Threw the New Yorker Into Turmoil

 

[SixToe]

1. Things are not what they seem? Oh. Color me shocked.

2. Gawker is still around, or has returned? Or didn't die and is regenerating? I didn't know.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

Damn. This part hits hard ...

In this case, the source said, frustration with Overbey’s workplace behavior has left little energy to mobilize any public support. “Look, I don't think you can find a single example of anyone who currently works at The New Yorker speaking up for Erin,” a colleague added. “And I think that probably says it all.”