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

Migrants held for ransom in Texas hoped Biden would welcome them

Show Me

New videos show suspects in ‘most violent attacks’ on cops during Capitol riots

Show Me

Coronavirus Reinfections Are Rare, Danish Researchers Report

Show Me

US Jobless Claims Rise to 770,000 With Layoffs Still High

Show Me

Chilling video shows Atlanta gunman watching his victims enter the spa before killing four

Show Me

Biden nominee Gupta to sell stake in company linked to chemical used by drug cartels in heroin

Show Me

California Recall Backers Submitted 2.1 Million Signatures Ahead Of Deadline – Far Above Required Amount

Show Me

Facebook is making a bracelet that lets you control computers with your brain

Show Me

Teacher vaccinations will likely not be mandatory to reopen schools: education sec

Show Me

March 18, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 51 Minutes 53 Seconds

Show Me

Atlanta Shooting Suspect Tells Police Attack Not Racially Motivated

Show Me

Atlanta-area parlor shootings suspect may have ‘sexual addiction,’ police say

Show Me

Suspect In Georgia Shooting Might Have Been A Sex Addict, Police Say

Show Me

Atlanta Shooting May NOT Be Hate Crime, Shooter Claims Sex Addiction: Police

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded March 17, 2021 | 75 Million vs. 435 … The Deplorables Have Power to Save America | Video: 48 Minutes 37 Seconds

Show Me

Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded March 17, 2021 | Let’s Roll … Open the Schools, not the Border | Video: 48 Minutes 31 Seconds

Show Me

“Hell on Earth”: Yemeni Children Starve to Death as U.S.-Backed Saudi Blockade Devastates Nation

Show Me

Reports of Deaths After COVID Vaccines Up by 259 in 1 Week, CDC Data Show

Show Me

Hundreds of COVID-19 Vaccines Discarded Due to Storage Error at Kansas Hospital

Show Me

Bill Gates: Vaccines Are ‘Phenomenal’ Profit Makers

Show Me

Latest shots-in-arms tally below average — as share of Illinois residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19 hits 12%

Show Me

Updates on CCP Virus: Moderna Begins Study of Vaccine in Kids ( Babies As Young As 6 Months )

Show Me

Country Star Larry Gatlin Tests Positive for COVID-19 After Getting 2nd Moderna Vaccine Dose

Show Me

‘Hypocrisy’ And ‘Lies’: Tara Reade Slams Biden For Praising Courage Of #METOO Accusers

Show Me

Top U.S. officials strike a critical tone toward China during a visit to Japan.

Show Me

Cuomo helped draft letter disparaging his first sexual harassment accuser: report

Show Me

Liberal Circuit Court Judge Charged With Possession Of Child Pornography

Show Me

Convicted Democratic fund-raiser had secret ties to U.S. intelligence

Show Me

Texas Ensures Forgiveness of $29 Mil­lion in Unpaid Elec­tric Bills After Griddy Files for Bankruptcy

Show Me

8 Dead After Shootings at 3 Massage Parlors in Georgia, Man Captured

Show Me

Elderly Asian man dies following California robbery, as hate crimes swell

Show Me

US and Asian Allies Launch Partnership to Supply Billions of Vaccines in Indo-Pacific

Show Me

‘Asian Graduation,’ ‘Black Graduation’: Columbia University Holding 7 Different Ceremonies For Students

Show Me

House panel to hold hearing on violence against Asian Americans

Show Me

Trump on Border Crisis: ‘They’re Going to Destroy Our Country’

Show Me

Biotech researcher bought 800 castor beans to extract ricin, feds say

Show Me

March 16, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 52 Minutes 57 Seconds

Show Me

And These Are Supposed To Be The “Real” News Outlets: Washington Post Adds Lengthy Correction To Report On Trump Call With Georgia Elections Investigator

Show Me

ISIS jihadis are ‘beheading CHILDREN as young as 11 in barbaric uprising that’s left 2,500 dead in Mozambique’

Show Me

Facebook Global Planning Lead Reveals Need for Government Intervention: ‘The Single Biggest Thing is this Company Needs to be Broken Up’…‘No King in the History of the World has been the Ruler of Two Billion People, but Mark Zuckerberg is’

Show Me