Buzzfeed Writer Quits
After Story Slamming Advertiser Is Deleted
by Warner Todd Huston13 Apr 2015
A writer for Buzzfeed resigned
on Monday after a story she wrote criticizing a Buzzfeed advertiser was pulled
and then later reposted by site Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith.
Writer, Arabelle Sicardi tweeted about her resignation on
Monday saying, “My formal statement on my leaving BuzzFeed: It’s been real.”
Sicardi was upset when a post she wrote about Dove soap was pulled by editors because it was “not
consistent” with the editorial policy. The writer had felt that a recent Dove
ad was built on body shaming. “Dove Has Women Walk Through Doors Labeled
‘Beautiful’ Or ‘Average’ In Latest Campaign,” she wrote as criticism of the
campaign.
It is clear that Sicardi was never satisfied with how her
post was treated even though, not long after it was pulled, Editor-in-Chief Ben
Smith reposted the piece
with an apology.
The piece now sports a disclaimer at the top saying, “This
post was inappropriately deleted amid an ongoing conversation about how and
when to publish personal opinion pieces on BuzzFeed. The deletion was in
violation of our editorial standards and the post has been reinstated.”
After the writer quit, Buzzfeed editor Julie Gerstein passed an email to
staff on Monday saying, “Just wanted to send a note out to let you guys know
that sadly Arabelle has decided to move on to pursue other ventures. We are
deeply sad to see her go, and will miss her, but we know she is going to do
amazingly cool projects and insightful, passionate work in the future. Her last
day will be April 24, so come say hi and hang until then!”
Explaining himself, Ben Smith said he “blew it.”
I blew it. Twice in the last couple of months, I’ve asked
editors — over their better judgment and without any respect to our standards
or process — to delete recently published posts from the site. Both involved
the same thing: my overreaction to questions we’ve been wrestling with about
the place of personal opinion pieces on our site. I reacted impulsively when I
saw the posts and I was wrong to do that. We’ve reinstated both with a brief
note.
You also have the right to ask about whether we did this
because of advertiser pressure, as Gawker suggested. The answer is no. I field
complaints all the time from companies and individuals, including advertisers,
and see it as my job to shield you from that pressure.
We obviously need to do a better job of giving guidance to
writers and editors on the place of personal opinion on the site. That’s an
ongoing conversation in which I’d love your input, and we’ll keep you posted.
We’ll have a quick all-edit meeting at 5:00 EST in the back
canteen in New York if you’ve got questions; we’ll circulate dial-in
information for other offices.
Looks like attacking political opponents and conservatives
is fair game, but when it comes to attacking advertisers, well, apparently
money trumps.
BuzzFeed
Kenneth
B. Lerer is the chairman for BuzzFeed,
and an advisory board member for Everytown
for Gun Safety.
Note: Michael R.
Bloomberg is the founder of Everytown
for Gun Safety, and was a benefactor for the Harlem Children's Zone.
George
Soros was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, and the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Harlem Children's Zone, the Urban
Institute (think tank), the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Warren E. Buffett
is a life trustee at the Urban Institute
(think tank), an advisory board member for Everytown for Gun Safety, and an adviser for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Malcolm Rifkind
is a director at the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank), and a director at Unilever PLC.
Unilever Group
is a member of Unilever PLC.
Dove
soap is a Unilever Group brand.
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank),
was the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think
tank), an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
Ann
M. Fudge is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a director
at Unilever PLC, and the U.S.
program advisory panel chair for the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation.
Unilever Group is a member of Unilever PLC.
Unilever Group is a member of Unilever PLC.
Dove
soap is a Unilever Group brand.
Warren E. Buffett
is a trustee & major donor for the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation, an adviser for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), a life trustee at the Urban Institute (think tank), an advisory
board member for Everytown for Gun
Safety, and was a member of the Obama-Biden
economic advisory team.
Richard D. Parsons was a member of the Obama-Biden economic
advisory team, and is a friend of Kenneth
B. Lerer.
Kenneth
B. Lerer is a friend of Richard D.
Parsons, an advisory board member for Everytown
for Gun Safety, and the chairman for BuzzFeed.
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