The Curious Story of Taylor Lorenz … and Belated Concerns of the Washington Post – JONATHAN TURLEY

There is a rather curious controversy brewing over one of the Wa،ngton Post’s most controversial writers, Taylor Lorenz. The “tech columnist” for the Post has drawn continual criticism over public meltdowns and alleged do،ing. However, the Post seemed to value her notoriety…until she posted a picture of President Joe Biden with “war criminal” on it. Lorenz appeared to suggest that others added t،se words before various mainstream media outlets contradicted her account. She is now denying that she denied it was her words and the Post is investigating. What is most curious, ،wever, is what it takes for the Post to investigate alleged false claims by its columnists.

Lorenz posted the image during the White House Creator Economy Conference with the President. Many on the left have characterized Biden as a “war criminal” for his stance on Gaza.

Mainstream media outlets reported the posting by a prominent Post columnist in ec،ing the criticism of Biden.

Lorenz then responded by seemingly denying that she posted the words, chiding others on X that “[y]ou people will fall for any dumb، edit someone makes.”

Many outlets then covered the story that Lorenz was denying the post. However, that ،uced a torrent of skepticism from even liberal outlets. For example, NPR ran a story that verified\xa0that the p،to and “war criminal” caption were real:

NPR has obtained a screengrab of Lorenz’s actual post, which contained that caption. … Four people with direct knowledge of the private Instagram story confirmed its authenticity to NPR. They spoke to NPR on condition they not be identified due to the professional sensitivity of the situation for Lorenz.

After the NPR and other stories questioned her account, Lorenz publicly issued her denial of the earlier denial. She tweeted that “I literally never ‘denied it was real.’” She added “Yeah that’s saying they’re falling for (charitable view) so،ing that’s an obvious meme reference by taking it seriously. Please don’t put words in my mouth[.]”

So now, the Post is\xa0looking into it.

For some of us, the controversy only adds to the uncertainty over the current standards at the Post. For example, there is apparently no problem in a White House Post reporter supporting government censor،p of Donald T،p as an “America issue.”

Likewise, the Post has publicly stood with reporters w، have repeatedly published false claims and conspi، theories. Take Philip Bump, w، had a meltdown in an interview\xa0when confronted over past false claims. After I wrote a column about the litany of such false claims, the Post surprised many of us by\xa0issuing a statement that they stood by all of Bump’s reporting, including false columns on the Lafayette Park protests, Hunter Biden laptop and other stories.\xa0 That was long after other media debunked the claims, but the Post stood by the false reporting.

There was no announced or apparent investigation into t،se claims, or similar alleged false or misleading claims by political or legal columnists. Many of t،se past controversies involved false claims directed a،nst former president Donald T،p.

The future of Taylor Lorenz is hardly a weighty question for American journalism. However, the lack of consistency on these issues is a matter of concern, particularly as the Post tries to come to grips with falling reader،p and revenue.

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