Editors at the Washington Post “lost confidence” in Taylor Lorenz after she called President Biden a “war criminal” in a social media post — and was “deliberately misleading” when confronted about it by her bosses, according to a report.
Lorenz — the controversial tech columnist who grabbed headlines for the “Libs of TikTok” and crying foul on MSNBC, only to later accuse the network of fraudulent editing — announced last week that she was leaving the Washington Post to start its Substack newsletter.
But that came after she reportedly lost the trust of top editors in the newsroom after Jon Levine of the New York Post posted a screenshot of an image Lorenz uploaded to her Instagram account, according to National Public Radio.
In the photo, Lorenz is seen wearing a mask while Biden speaks to an audience in the background. Directly below Biden’s photo appears the caption “War Criminal” with a frowning emoji next to the words.
Biden has been branded a “war criminal” mainly by pro-Palestinian supporters, who are outraged by policies that have been associated with Israel amid its ongoing military actions in Gaza, Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries.
Lorenz, who was attending a “Creators Summit” of online influencers at the White House in August, intended the image to be seen by a select number of “close friends” — a feature on Instagram that allows users to target a select group of followers rather than the general public, according to Levine’s report in The Post.
She would later claim that the photo had been digitally altered, saying: “You people are going to fall for any dumb*** edit anyone makes.”
NPR, however, confirmed Levine’s report and confirmed that the original post with the caption “war criminal” was authentic.
Lorenz then wrote in X: “I literally never ‘denied it was true’.” She claimed the post was an “obvious meme”.
According to NPR, Lorenz was “deliberately misleading” her editors when asked about the social media post. The Washington Post launched an investigation after Levine disclosed the contents of his report.
The newspaper has not announced the results of its investigation.
A Washington Post spokesman referred to The Post in an earlier statement about the matter, saying, “We are grateful for the work that Taylor has produced at The Washington Post.”
“She has resigned to pursue a career in freelance journalism and we wish her the best,” the spokesman said.
Lorenz told NPR: “I have no idea about their review.”
“All I know is that they’ve been very nice to me and very good, and I’m on good terms with them.”
She said her departure was prompted by her desire to work as a freelance journalist.
“I want to move away from legacy media altogether, for so many reasons,” Lorenz said.
“And that’s not a knock on legacy media, I love and support all my friends in that system, but it’s not the right environment for me to do the work I want to do.”
Washington Post reporters told NPR that while they were impressed by how well-resourced and collegial she was in the office, Lorenz could also be unflappable when attacked online or criticized for aspects of her work.
In 2022, Lorenz took to social media to accuse one of her editors of inserting errors into her story.
That same year, Lorenz also criticized a Washington Post colleague who commented on X about a New York Post article detailing how fellow friend and notorious germaphobe Howard Stern was afraid to leave his apartment because of fear of contracting COVID.
Lorenz, who continues to wear a mask in public because she says she has a pre-existing condition, said columnist Helaine Olen’s comments were “absurd” and “insensitive”.
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Image Source : nypost.com