Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

DonViejo

(60,536 posts)
Thu May 15, 2014, 01:28 PM May 2014

Media called her “brusque” & “polarizing.” But to young women at the NYT, Abramson was everything

Woman at the Top of the Masthead

The media called her “brusque” and “polarizing.” But to young women at the New York Times, Jill Abramson was everything.


By Amanda Hess

“Every executive editor stands on the shoulders of others,” Jill Abramson told the New York Times newsroom when she was named the newspaper’s executive editor in September 2011. But not all shoulders are the same. At the meeting, Abramson credited over a dozen women who had paved her path to become the paper’s first top female editor, including groundbreaking Times reporter Nan Robertson, then-Times CEO Janet Robinson, and opinion columnist (and longtime friend of Abramson’s) Maureen Dowd.

As Times staffers absorbed Abramson’s speech, some younger female reporters looked around and realized that they couldn’t summon a similarly robust list of female compatriots. So they formed the “Old Girls Club,” an occasional after-work happy hour meant to forge relationships between junior women across the paper, which has grown to include some 40 women. They invited Abramson to attend. To their surprise, she turned up at the noisy Manhattan bar, leaned in close, answered every one of their questions, and told dishy anecdotes about how she’s dealt with men who projected their own biases onto her work. “It was awe-inspiring, the way she took that time out of her life to powwow with us, without ever seeming ceremonial about it,” one female staffer in attendance told me. Later, the staffer watched an interview with Abramson on Current TV, where she recalls Abramson saying “It was awe-inspiring to her that we were getting together in solidarity with each other,” she says. “Jill Abramson was inspired by us? That was a total surprise, and it was incredibly heartening to hear.”

When Abramson was unexpectedly fired from the Times on Wednesday—17 years after joining the paper, and just two-and-a-half years after being tapped to run it—media reporters noted that she had made history as the first female executive editor in the paper’s 160-year history. But shooting off that brief line makes it seem as if her contribution to women was as simple as ticking off a box on the Times’ diversity checklist. According to a half-dozen women who worked with her, though, Abramson’s brief stint as the female leader of a male-dominated institution proved to be a transformative experience. By the time she left, media critics would report that staffers deemed her “polarizing,” “bitchy,” and “not approachable.” But to many women at the New York Times, Jill Abramson was everything.

more
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2014/05/jill_abramson_was_everything_to_young_women_at_the_new_york_times.html?
1 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Media called her “brusque” & “polarizing.” But to young women at the NYT, Abramson was everything (Original Post) DonViejo May 2014 OP
Yes, but you know she was "mercurial" and "pushy" frazzled May 2014 #1

frazzled

(18,402 posts)
1. Yes, but you know she was "mercurial" and "pushy"
Thu May 15, 2014, 01:53 PM
May 2014

Unlike her successor, who in the Times' own story today (how come they're allowed to talk and she isn't?) is reported to have put his fist through a wall after an argument with Abramson, and who was angry because he thought HE should have been the executive editor. Now that's not mercurial or pushy, is it? Of course not, because men are allowed to hit walls and aggressively pursue positions.

With Mr. Sulzberger more closely monitoring her stewardship, tensions between Ms. Abramson and Mr. Baquet escalated. In one publicized incident, he angrily slammed his hand against a wall in the newsroom. He had been under consideration for the lead job when Ms. Abramson was selected and, according to people familiar with his thinking, he was growing frustrated working with her.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/15/business/media/jill-abramson-being-replaced-as-top-editor-at-times.html?ref=business


This truly seems to be an issue involving blatant sexism, apparently in the firing, but also in all the reporting.
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Media called her “brusque...