Jill Abramson is a name that most haven’t heard outside of the insular news-geek community, but that injustice should be rectified. In a world where female CEOs occupy 4.8% of the positions in Fortune 500 companies, any time a woman is so unceremoniously booted from a power position, it merits a bursting of the filter bubble.
For anyone who doesn’t follow newsroom drama (read most people) Jill Abramsom was the first female executive editor at the New York Times. Two days ago, she was quite suddenly ousted from her position. There have been no official reports, but many speculations from almost every news organization in the country (and even some outside it).
Rather than rehash the rehashing, we’ve curated a short set of articles. They’re intended as a way to stick a toe in the water of this vast pond of speculation. The conspiracy theories abound, but we’ll leave you to choose sides.
- “Jill Abramson and The Times: What Went Wrong” (source: The New Yorker) is a thorough overview of many of the possible factors and indicators that may have led to Abramson’s dismissal. It also refrains from painting the situation in any particular way.
- “Times Ousts Jill Abramson as Executive Editor, Elevating Dean Baquet” (source: The New York Times) A synopsis of the events of the past two days wouldn’t be complete without an account from the affected paper. The article, understandably, reads dry and aloof, but is a good gauge for understanding where the staff sits on the issue.
- “I Sort of Hope We Find Out That Jill Abramson Was Robbing the Cash Register” (source: New Republic) Rebecca Traister makes no attempt to hold back the feminist rhetoric, making this piece a juicy read on gender equality in the workplace. She poignantly echoes the thoughts and fears of many female journos (and probably female business leaders) when describing Abramson’s ouster and subsequent “glass cliff” phenomenon. Is it polarizing? Hell yes. But all good stories have spectrums of opinion.
- “Tattooed, puppy-stealing badass editor Jill Abramson out at the New York Times” (source: Vox Media) Vox is a personal favorite covering the story, for several reasons (not the least of which is the title). First, the layout of their “Story Stream” makes for easy following as new articles come out. Second, how can anyone not love a post using the terms “badass” and “puppy-stealing” in one headline. Again, the opinions of the author are obvious, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In the absence of fact, all we have are opinions. So why should we describe them as anything but.
- “Go Try And Hire A Male Journalist — You Can’t Find Any!” (source: BuzzFeed) This is closest thing we could find to a rebuttal that Abramson may have deserved what she got. In fairness, Fox News did also publish a piece defending Abramson, so we’ll chalk up Tucker Carlson’s chauvinism to sensational television on this one.
Are you following the story? What’s your take on the gender pay vs. clandestine hiring debate? Did we miss a post that should be here? Let us know in the comments below.
