Korean-American journalist Sarah Jeong, The Verge tech writer and soon The New York Times, was scorned and supported for a series of problematic tweets.

Sarah Jeong – Twitter

From 2013 to 2015, journalist Sarah Jeong wrote what appears to be purposefully malicious tweets targeting white people. All of these tweets came back to haunt the writer after The New York Times (The Times) announced that Jeong would be the newest addition to their Editorial Board, a move that many saw as a shrewd move and a statement regarding their push into technology.

As a senior writer for The Verge, Jeong has writing numerous articles on technology with a style that robust and tactile. Additionally, as a graduate of UC Berkeley and Harvard Law School, Jeong has also written pieces for numerous publications including The Washington Post, Forbes, The Guardian, WIRED Magazine and The Atlantic.

Unfortunately, Jeong’s writing skills and sound resume presented little protection when a Twitter account by the name of Human Garbage published a collection of the journalist’s old tweets. Many found them to be harsh and the bigoted language shocking.

Although presented without context, phrases such as “it’s kind of sick how much joy I get out of being cruel to old white men,” and “Dumbass f******* white people” were enough to enrage people, leading some to start a pseudo-campaign against Jeong and calling for The Times to fire her on social media.

In the midst of the furor, both Jeong and The Times published statements regarding the inflammatory tweets. Jeong explained in a simple message that her posts were attempts at flipping the script on the rhetoric used by online trolls and harassers, something that Jeong says she regularly experiences first hand. Further, she also explains that her tweets were “intended as satire” but now regrets that she “mimicked the language of [her] harassers.”

Likewise, The Times’ statement echoed Jeong’s claims of online harassment and that “she regrets it, and The Times does not condone it,” presenting a slightly harder edge. Nevertheless, the new outlet stuck by their decision to hire Jeong because of her “exceptional work” and that they are “confident she will be an important voice for the editorial board moving forward.”

However, the response from both parties has done little to quell waves of resentment, support, and multiple articles that different outlets have published in the days since including a statement from The Verge‘s editorial board.

The continues social media and general media buzz surrounding this incident is part of the ongoing debate and concern about fake news, bias, and truthful reporting.

 

By O.C

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