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

Montana Gov. Gianforte Signs Law Prohibiting Federal Ban on Gun Ownership

Show Me

Smithsonian museums, National Zoo announce reopening dates

Show Me

BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: FBI Finally Releases Records on Murdered DNC Analyst Seth Rich – Via Attorney Ty Clevenger

Show Me

Outrage after professor displays ‘juicy’ bones of black child killed in 1985 police bomb at lecture

Show Me

So Many Americans Look Around and Know | We Are Still At War With The Greatest Enemies of Freedom | Video: 2 Minutes 51 Seconds

Show Me

New York posts major increases in rape cases, sharply up from last year’s lockdown lows

Show Me

MLB Survey Asks Fans if They’re Republicans or Democrats

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room |Saturday Edition Hour 1 | Recorded April 24, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 45 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room |Saturday Edition Hour 2 | Recorded April 24, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 45 Seconds

Show Me

Ghislaine Maxwell pleads NOT GUILTY to two more counts of sex trafficking

Show Me

(READ) Trump statement on Arizona election recount

Show Me

Feds Charge Southern Illinois U. Prof with Grant Fraud over Secret Ties to China

Show Me

Rumble CEO says alternative video platform has huge growth, as users ‘fed up’ with big tech

Show Me

‘What Are They Hiding?’: Democrats Try Last Attempt to Block AZ Election Audit & Cave In When Judge Asks For Million Dollar Bond

Show Me

US drop in vaccine demand has some places turning down doses

Show Me

Indian hospitals plead for oxygen as country sets daily coronavirus record

Show Me

Soros Makes First Contributions of 2022 Cycle

Show Me

What Happened to $16 Million Georgia’s Secretary of State’s Office Received Before the 2020 Election?

Show Me

SpaceX Rocketship Launches 4 Astronauts on NASA Mission to Space Station

Show Me

My, Oh, My. Some More Big Tech Pedophilia | “New Jersey man charged with sharing child porn through Facebook chat”

Show Me

Ron Johnson questions ‘big push’ to vaccinate ‘everybody’

Show Me

SURVEY: 85% Disbelieve Allegations Against Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Show Me

One Time FBI Informant, Al Sharpton, States: ‘We Are Seeing the Absolute Time that Policing Must Be Defined by the Federal Government’

Show Me

Norway’s Institute of Public Health Says, “Everyone in Norway will be at greater risk of disease and death by choosing the AstraZeneca vaccine than waiting for another”

Show Me

VIRGINIA: Attorney Who Helped Trump Fight 2020 Election In Court Announces Run For State Legislature

Show Me

Texas Sues Biden Administration for Allegedly Disregarding COVID-19 Rules at Border

Show Me

8-Year-Old Saves Sister Choking on Chicken Nugget Using Tip From John Cena

Show Me

Behind Bitcoin’s Recent Slide: Imploding Bets, Forced Liquidations

Show Me

Judicial Watch Fights Hard Left “Critical Race Theory”

Show Me

Joe Biden Masks Up for Zoom Call with 16 Other World Leaders. He’s the Only One.

Show Me

Russia: Activists detained under absurd “sanitary” charges for social media posts in support of public protest

Show Me

President Macron vows to ‘never give up the fight against Islamist terorrism’ after knifeman screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’ stabs woman to death before being shot dead by cops at French police station

Show Me

‘I Am Nonviolent’: Maxine Waters Defends Call For Protesters To ‘Get More Confrontational’

Show Me

African Activists: The Earth Is in Peril If Wealthy Nations Don’t Slash Emissions & Pay Climate Debt

Show Me

Caitlyn Jenner files to run for governor, done with one-party rule: This is not Gavin Newsom’s California

Show Me

April 23, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 51 Minutes 28 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded April 23, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded April 23, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 54 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded April 23, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 30 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room |Evening Edition Hour 2 | Recorded April 23, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds

Show Me