Science presenter and Observer garden columnist James Wong has departed the paper, accusing it of “institutionalised transphobia”.
Wong, an ethnobotanist and garden designer who has written a regular column for The Observer since 2015, said on Instagram he left after being reprimanded by an editor for publicly criticising an Observer article about trans rights.
Wong’s resignation comes some nine months after Observer parent company Guardian News and Media issued new social media guidelines for staff and contributors warning them against criticising colleagues online.
And it comes nearly three years after more than 300 staff at The Guardian signed an internal letter to the editor criticising the paper’s coverage of trans people.
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In an Instagram story on Saturday, Wong said: “After formally complaining about an article that likened politicians who support trans rights to alleged sex traffickers, the editor ignored my complaint and reprimanded me for revealing that I had even made it.” He made a similar announcement on Twitter.
Apparently this tweet breached my requirement to
“abide by social media guidelines” and “This is a serious matter.” https://t.co/7T26KRoKY2— James Wong (@Botanygeek) February 24, 2023Content from our partners
The January article about which Wong complained was written by Observer columnist Catherine Bennett and headlined: “Forget Andrew Tate – what about the host of misogynists in Labour’s ranks?”
Tate is a self–described misogynist currently detained in Romania over allegations of human trafficking.
The article prompted some online criticism of Bennett for appearing to compare Labour MPs Lloyd Russell-Moyle and Ben Bradshaw to Tate over their stances on trans rights and the way they have criticised female MPs. Both MPs have criticised the Government’s decision to use a section 35 order to prevent Scotland creating a self-identification system for people looking to change their legal gender.
Russell-Moyle said he would complain about the article to The Observer, which is self-regulated, and invited others to do so (although GNM told Press Gazette subsequently that no complaint was received from the MP). On Twitter, Wong said at the time: “As a columnist at the Observer, I have written to them to express my shock. This is completely unacceptable.”
That tweet appears to have put Wong on the wrong side of GNM’s social media policy, which tells its journalists “it is never acceptable to criticise colleagues on social media either directly or indirectly”.
Wong said on Saturday he had been told by an editor that the tweet breached “my requirement to ‘abide by social media guidelines’ and ‘this is a serious matter’”. The reprimand, coupled by the lack of a reply to his complaint, appears to have prompted Wong to resign.
Asked underneath his tweet what was “wrong with the Observer”, Wong responded: “Institutionalised transphobia.”
A GNM spokesperson said in response:”James has been a gardening columnist with the Observer for seven years. We wish him the best for the future.”
Wong is the latest in a series of staff to prominently depart The Guardian and Observer.
In August 2019, two trans staff members at The Guardian quit the paper, accusing it of transphobic reporting.
Guardian columnist Suzanne Moore left the following year, saying she felt “bullied” by a letter signed by 338 colleagues criticising a “pattern of publishing transphobic content” at GNM. In June 2022 two more trans journalists said they were pulling out of The Guardian’s Pride coverage because of “ingrained prejudice against trans women” at the paper.
In October Press Gazette reported long-serving Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman was leaving the paper to join The Sunday Times – the week after fellow Guardian contributor Sarah Ditum made the same move. Both journalists have argued against trans women’s ability to freely enter women’s spaces.
Meanwhile, in January long-time Observer columnist Nick Cohen resigned from the paper on “health grounds“. Cohen’s column had been paused since July pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations against him.
Wong’s resignation comes a week after numerous New York Times contributors signed an open letter to the paper criticising its coverage of trans youth healthcare – prompting several further letters from staff both rebuking and supporting the original.
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