After more than 22 years at Documentary magazine, Tom White has decided to resign as top editor, citing his mental health after the departures of 18 staffers amid what he called a “toxic context.”
White’s resignation follows that of IDA executive director Rick Pérez, who announced his decision to step down earlier this month. Pérez’s departure from IDA takes effect Friday.
White’s resignation from the IDA publication will go into effect Jan. 4, 2023. He posted his full letter and statement on Twitter.
“I have submitted letters of resignation to the Executive Director and IDA Board of Directors and to the IDA staff,” he began. “My mental health — namely, my depression — instigated by the exodus of 18 of my colleagues since the beginning of this year, and the toxic context that spurred the exodus, has worsened over the past several months, and it would be best for me, and for the organization, to bow out at this point.”
In the last year, the IDA has had to replace nearly its whole staff, a turnover sparked by the exit of four senior directors, who in their departures harshly criticized Pérez and the group’s board of directors. The senior directors who resigned —Poh Si Teng, Maggie Bowman, Jina Chung and Amy Halpin — blasted the “workplace conduct” of Pérez and suggested his leadership style was abusive. The staffers criticized actions by the nonprofit’s board of directors as a “betrayal of public commitments to the documentary field.”
According to Indiewire, the IDA eventually lost more than 75% of its staff under Peréz’s tenure, with 18 of 23 people on staff in January 2022 having left, a majority being women, nonbinary, and/or queer.
White recalled the lucky chain of events that spared him from losing his life in the 9/11 plane crashes because his wife wanted him to stay an extra day in Boston after visiting her at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. She had wanted him to fly out on Sept. 11, instead he flew on the 10th.
“It was the 10th anniversary of 9/11 when things began to crystallize — my fortune ten years ago had transformed my job into a calling, a livelihood, a purpose,” he continued. “I feel truly blessed to have had a purpose, a reason for making my work better, for serving the community as honestly, intentionally and creatively as I could, ever mindful of my blind spots and deficiencies, ever intent on addressing them.”
White echoed sentiments he expressed in a previous February writing to the IDA members, reflecting on what he learned from the publication in his 22-year tenure.
“I leave IDA and Documentary magazine for destinations unknown. New frontiers are always daunting and inspiring; I relish the challenge of taking those steps into something new,” White concluded.”I feel immense gratitude for having had the opportunity to serve the documentary community for 22 1/2 years with the job of a lifetime, and I look forward to seeing what my successor will deliver.”