Former New York Times tech reporter Nellie Bowles, the partner of political columnist Bari Weiss, claims the newspaper bullied her out of the paper – much like they did Weiss – and was ‘leaking stories to other publications to embarrass me.’
Bowles, who covered tech for the Times beginning in 2017, announced her move to Weiss’ Common Sense Substack on Friday with an article slamming the Old Gray Lady for a woke culture run amok.
She claimed she began at the paper as a ‘very happy, lauded bulldog liberal of a writer’ but that the outlet and the culture in general shifted toward a ‘charismatic new ideology’ that she felt pressured to ‘cheer on or otherwise carefully ignore.’
‘When I didn’t, I became suspect,’ she wrote. ‘My colleagues started leaking stories to other publications to embarrass me.’
Bowles added that she was particularly bothered by being contacted by a magazine reporter who was asked her about her co-workers being angry at her for going to CHAZ [Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone] in Seattle during the racial justice protests in 2020.
‘Efforts by well-meaning bosses to intervene only made it more frenzied,’ she continued. ‘At first it was crazy-making, like a breakup or a betrayal, a feeling so many in my position have written about beautifully already in this newsletter.’
CHAZ was a protest movement that closed off six blocks of Seattle for over three weeks by protesters after the Seattle Police Department left its building within the zone. Four shootings took place in the police-free zone during the protest. Bowles visited and published a story about the movement in August.
Bowles said that those who have made similar decisions made it easier and ‘more fun’ to quit and get ‘outside’ the ‘old newspapers and mainstream TV networks’ which she slammed as ‘docile and predictable.’
Former New York Times tech reporter Nellie Bowles announced she left the New York Times to work for Bari Weiss’ Common Sense Substack
Weiss (pictured) founded Common Sense after herself leaving the New York Times
Bowles announced Friday she’ll be writing a weekly roundup for Weiss’ outlet
Weiss greeted the news warmly on Twitter, referring to her wife as ‘the best writer in my house’
Award-winning writer and podcaster Weiss celebrated the move in a tweet that referred to Bowles as ‘the best writer in my house.’
The two met in 2018 and reportedly got married this year. Bowles’ Twitter bio says since leaving the Times she’s been, ‘Writing, working on a small family business, and trying to convince my wife we need to adopt more dogs.’
Bowles, who was born in San Francisco and prefers not to give her age, worked for several publications that included the San Francisco Chronicle, the technology journalism website Recode, the British daily The Guardian and Vice News before joining the Times.
Weiss herself slammed her former newspaper in the first episode of her new podcast after leaving the paper, saying editors ‘live in total fear of an internet mob’.
She quit the Times with a resignation letter that went viral where she railed against the liberal newspaper’s bias and said the paper no longer served journalism.
Weiss, in her resignation letter, said her opinions had resulted in her being bullied by coworkers.
She described the Times as a ‘hostile work environment’ and criticized management for allowing her co-workers to ‘publicly smear’ her on Twitter and also on company-wide Slack messaging channels.
Weiss said some employees would post an axe emoji next to her name on company Slack channels and others would discuss the need for her to ‘rooted out’ if the NYT was ‘truly inclusive’.
‘My own forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views. They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how I’m ‘writing about the Jews again’,’ Weiss wrote in her resignation letter.
‘Several colleagues perceived to be friendly with me were badgered by coworkers. My work and my character are openly demeaned on company-wide Slack channels where masthead editors regularly weigh in.
‘There, some coworkers insist I need to be rooted out if this company is to be a truly ‘inclusive’ one, while others post ax emojis next to my name. Still other New York Times employees publicly smear me as a liar and a bigot on Twitter with no fear that harassing me will be met with appropriate action. They never are.’
She went on to describe that behavior as unlawful discrimination, hostile work environment and constructive discharge.
‘I do not understand how you have allowed this kind of behavior to go on inside your company in full view of the paper’s entire staff and the public.
‘And I certainly can’t square how you and other Times leaders have stood by while simultaneously praising me in private for my courage,’ she wrote.
Weiss’s Substack is now attracting widespread attention for its focus on cancel culture, transgender issues and freedom of speech, among other contentious issues.