Born: 19 March 1954, United States
Died: NA
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
In 2011, when the newspaper industry was in crisis, Jill Abramson was the first woman named editor of The New York Times. In 2014, she was abruptly fired, with a staff member commenting “The unbelievable thing is that there actually is no ‘cause’ for this—no single thing, nothing.” Several weeks earlier, she had reportedly found out that both her pay and pension benefits as executive director and, previously, managing editor, were less than those of the male editor she had replaced in both jobs, though the publisher denies that. As an article in New York Magazine commented, “in Abramson’s case, eight Pulitzers did not speak loudly enough. Revenue growth did not speak loudly enough. Successful new digital products did not speak loudly enough.” Criticisms of Abramson included that she was “pushy” and brusque, yet she was replaced by Dean Baquet, a man who admits he has gotten so angry in the office that he punched holes in the newsroom walls. Yet according to a Politico article on the topic, even that was her fault: “If Baquet had burst out of the office in a huff, many said, it was likely because Abramson had been unreasonable.” Even as they lauded her with comments like “She’s an incredible talent. There’s no question she deserves to be where she is,” she was criticised for not being likeable enough. “It’s frustrating because she is such a smart person. When Jill is on her game, she is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met,” one staff member said. “But she’s not a naturally charismatic person—she’s not approachable.”