• by Ray Schultz , July 25, 2022

The New Yorker has fired archivist Erin Overbey, who has publicly challenged the magazine’s diversity policies, after a performance review that alleged factual inaccuracies and “disrespect,” Overbey tweeted.  

Overbey accuses Editor David Remnick of adding the alleged factual errors to her copy. 

A Condé Nast spokesperson responded as follows to a MediaPost query: “The New Yorker prides itself on professionalism, accuracy, and adherence to the highest journalistic standards. False allegations that malign our journalistic integrity and that attack colleagues are inappropriate and unacceptable in our workplace.”

Overbey tweeted that she is "speaking with the union about potentially filing a grievance on the termination.”

The New York Post quoted an unnamed source who said Overbey was fired for a “pattern of conduct” that was deemed “disruptive to the operation" of the company and which “undermines the journalistic ethics of our magazine.”

The Post continues that "Overbey was disciplined for “self-plagiarism” — or copying and pasting work that had already been published and reusing it word for word while presenting it as fresh." Overbey has denied these charges. 

In 2021, Overbey charged in a thread that people of color are underrepresented at The New Yorker.

In a recent tweet, she charged that The New Yorker “has also never disputed the magazine’s diversity data that I presented in a thread last year nor has it disputed the accuracy of my salary information which I highlighted in a thread on pay transparency & gender inequality back in March.”