The former top editor of the Columbia Journalism Review is defending his interactions with staff after subordinates’ complaints allegedly prompted his ousting from the magazine.
Not long after news broke that Sewell Chan was no longer leading the magazine known for its scrutiny of the press, the journalist posted a lengthy statement on social media platforms calling the decision “hasty, ill-considered and quite frankly baffling.”
Chan says his firing came just a few days after he learned of staff complaints stemming from “pointed interactions in which I provided fair and critical feedback rooted in editorial rigor.” He responded by suggesting that he meet with the unhappy employees and asking for a coach to assist him with working in “a charged higher education environment,” but says he was fired instead.
Chan summarized three conversations that he said prompted the complaints, having to do with one potential conflict of interest, a deadline for a reporter on a sensitive story and one employee dismissal over in-office attendance and a story quota. Chan called all of these cases “normal workplace interaction” where he fulfilled his role responsibilities “to provide rigorous, fair, careful editorial oversight and raise the metabolism and impact of a publication that’s supposed to monitor the media.”
News broke that Chan, a veteran reporter who once led the Texas Tribune and oversaw the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times, was no longer at the magazine earlier on Friday. Washington Post media reporter Jeremy Barr reported that in a note to staff, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism dean Jelani Cobb said the magazine would run “without interruption” under new interim editor Betsy Morais. “We are most grateful to the CJR staff for their resilience and dedication,” Cobb, who is also a New Yorker staff writer, said.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, which publishes the magazine, for comment.
The news sparked some of Chan’s former colleagues to weigh in on their experiences with him on Friday. On the one hand, former CJR editor Ravi Somaiya published a critical look at his leadership in a Breaker Media Substack piece (“He seemed to have two modes: rage, at anyone he felt inferior to him, and obsequiousness towards anyone he considered a superior,” Somaiya wrote). On the other, one former Texas Tribune colleague called him “caring and thoughtful,” while another described office exchanges with Chan that were “kind, and made me a better journalist.”
After the White House’s recent skirmish with Columbia University, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz also seized on the news on Friday, calling it a potential “example” of why the vast university, which recently acceded to various administration demands as its federal funding was threatened, was “so deeply off-track.” He asked on X (formerly Twitter), “Are there more facts or another side here?”
#Sewell #Chan #Defends #Columbia #Journalism #Review #Tenure #Firing
