Criticizing Public Figures, Including Influential Journalists, is Not Harassment or Abuse

The most powerful and influential newspaper in the U.S., arguably the west, is The New York Times. Journalists who write for it, especially those whose work is featured on its front page or in its op-ed section, wield immense power to shape public discourse, influence thought, set the political agenda for the planet’s most powerful nation, expose injustices, or ruin the lives of public figures and private citizens alike. That is an enormous amount of power in the hands of one media institution and its employees. That’s why it calls itself the Paper of Record.

One of the Paper of Record’s star reporters, Taylor Lorenz, has been much discussed of late. That is so for three reasons. The first is that the thirty-six-year-old tech and culture reporter has helped innovate a new kind of reportorial beat that seems to have a couple of purposes. She publishes articles exploring in great detail the online culture of teenagers and very young adults, which, as a father of two young Tik-Tok-using children, I have found occasionally and mildly interesting. She also seeks to catch famous and non-famous people alike using bad words or being in close digital proximity to bad people so that she can alert the rest of the world to these important findings. It is natural that journalists who pioneer a new form of reporting this way are going to be discussed.

The second reason Lorenz is the topic of recent discussion is that she has been repeatedly caught fabricating claims about influential people, and attempting to ruin the reputations and lives of decidedly non-famous people. In the last six weeks alone, she twice publicly lied about Netscape founder Marc Andreessen: once claiming he used the word “retarded” in a Clubhouse room in which she was lurking (he had not) and then accusing him of plotting with a white nationalist in a different Clubhouse room to attack her (he, in fact, had said nothing).

She also often uses her large, powerful public platform to malign private citizens without any power or public standing by accusing them of harboring bad beliefs and/or associating with others who do. (She is currently being sued by a citizen named Arya Toufanian, who claims Lorenz has used her private Twitter account to destroy her reputation and business, particularly with a tweet that Lorenz kept pinned at the top of her Twitter page for eight months, while several other non-public figures complained that Lorenz has “reported” on their non-public activities). It is to be expected that a New York Times journalist who gets caught lying as she did against Andreessen and trying to destroy the reputations of non-public figures will be a topic of conversation.

The third reason this New York Times reporter is receiving attention is because she has become a leading advocate and symbol for a toxic tactic now frequently used by wealthy and influential public figures (like her) to delegitimize criticisms and even render off-limits any attempt to hold them accountable. Specifically, she and her media allies constantly conflate criticisms of people like them with “harassment,” “abuse” and even “violence.” . . . Read Full Article Here.

Skip The Scoop | Seek Understanding

Close to half of Americans can’t afford a one-bedroom rental: report

Show Me

Social Media’s Threat to Religious Freedom

Show Me

Lies, Lies and More Lies To Create Covid-19 Fear For Power and Money | The Texas Tribune ‘Corrects’ It’s Claim That 5,800 Children Hospitalized In 7 Days

Show Me

Minneapolis GOP campaign manager, PAC founder allegedly sex trafficked minors

Show Me

Chicago Cardinal Pushes for Mandatory Coronavirus Vaccines

Show Me

Hassan Mahmood on how the mindsets of successful people differ from others

Show Me

Fintech CEO Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison for COVID-19 Relief Loan Fraud, Investment Fraud

Show Me

Horatio Sanz groomed, sexually assaulted underage fan at ‘SNL’ party: lawsuit

Show Me

How the woke takeover of child services endangers abused kids

Show Me

Ex-Chicago police officer gets year in prison for taking bribes in exchange for crash report details

Show Me

VIDEO: New Yorkers Celebrate Cuomo Resignation, Tell DeBlasio ‘We Coming For You Next, We On Yo Ass Boy’

Show Me

WHO Scientist Says Chinese Pressured Investigation Team to Drop Lab-Leak Theory

Show Me

COVID-19, The Color Revolution, The Intelligence Branch and Over a Decade of Test Nudges

Show Me

ICE Freezes Enforcement for Crime Victims

Show Me

Meng Wanzhou Part of a ‘Coordinated Plan’ to Mislead HSBC: Lawyer

Show Me

The number of white people in America has declined for the first time since 1790

Show Me

Head’s Up: This US House Bill Would Require You be Vaccinated to Fly

Show Me

NY Supreme Court Sides With Project Veritas, Allows Group To Depose The New York Times

Show Me

Facebook to build $800M data center in metro Phoenix

Show Me

University Vaccine Mandate Stays as Justice Barrett Rebuffs Plea

Show Me

The Vaccinated Are Making The World Sick, According To The CDC | “Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Infections, Including COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Infections, Associated with Large Public Gatherings — Barnstable County, Massachusetts, July 2021”

Show Me

To The Dismay Of Main Stream Media, They Now Admit Covid Vaccination Does Not Prevent The Spread Of Covid | “Vaccinated People With Breakthrough Infections Can Spread The Delta Variant, CDC Says” | NPR

Show Me

Rand Paul on NIH chief’s mask-at-home remark: How can smart people ‘say such stupid things?’

Show Me

Boston Mayor Indicates Opposition to Vaccine Passports, Comparing Them to Slave Papers

Show Me

Anthony Fauci Suggests Delta Variant Cases May Double, ‘Even If We Vaccinated Everyone Today’

Show Me

Coronavirus Spreading Among the Vaccinated in Highly Vaccinated Countries

Show Me

Lockdown-Critical Academics Get ‘Canceled’ | Video: 4 Minutes 05 Seconds

Show Me

Bosnia’s Peace Envoy Imposes Jail Terms for Genocide Denial

Show Me

Most Pro Athletes Shun Role of ’Public Spokesperson’ on COVID Vaccines

Show Me

Deadly drug-resistant ‘superbug’ now spreading in 2 cities, CDC says

Show Me

Big Ten will let individual schools decide on COVID-19 protocols

Show Me

U.S. businesses and municipalities weigh vaccine mandates as N.Y.C.’s mayor calls for companies to require shots.

Show Me

Female artist-scientist is named a finalist for one of the eight seats on SpaceX flight to the moon

Show Me

Concerned About BlackRock Pricing Out Home Buyers? Wait Until You Hear How Connected They Are To The Government

Show Me

mRNA Vaccine Inventor, Dr. Robert Malone, Says What’s Happening With The Covid-19 Vax is ‘Fundamentally Different’ | Video: 5 Minutes 50 Seconds

Show Me

Larry Elder Wins Calif. Ballot Lawsuit; Pelosi Rejects 2 GOP Picks for Jan. 6 Panel | Video: 19 Minutes 22 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded July 22, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 25 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded July 22, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 16 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded July 22, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds

Show Me

Biden Education Department Says It Was an ‘Error’ to Push CRT Activist Handbook

Show Me