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

March 10, 2021 / Glenn Greenwald

A view of The New York Times Building Headquarters. (Photo by John Nacion/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

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.

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Journalist Andy Ngo Confirms He Was Chased and Beaten in Portland While Covering Antifa

By Janita Kan | NTD | June 3, 2021

Journalist Andy Ngo, who has spent years documenting the activities of the anarcho-communist group Antifa, confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that he was once again assaulted while he was reporting on protests in Portland, Oregon.

The attack against Ngo occurred on May 28 when the journalist was covering a rally on the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death. Several media outlets reported that a group of protesters pursued and assaulted a man who they believed was Ngo. However, the man’s identity could not be confirmed at the time.

In his account, Ngo, who is the editor-at-large of The Post Millennial, said the assault began shortly before midnight when an Antifa member, who had allegedly assaulted the journalist in 2019, approached him with questions. Ngo said he attempted to avoid speaking with the man and walked away but “a group of masked people in black” began pursuing and surrounding him. One of the protesters pulled down Ngo’s mask and immediately yelled: “That’s Andy. Get him! Get him!”

Ngo recounted how the group chased him through downtown Portland before tackling him to the ground in front of Pioneer Place Mall. His attackers allegedly punched him in his head and face.

“I pleaded for them not to kill me. All the time I could hear the angry cries and footsteps of the mob approaching,” Ngo wrote. . . .