Editors of The Washington Post. I “lost faith” in Taylor Lorenz after she branded President Joe Biden a “war criminal” in a social media post and, according to a report, was “intentionally misleading” when confronted by her bosses about the matter.
Lorenza — the controversial tech columnist who made headlines for doxing “Libs of TikTok” and crying on MSNBC only to later accuse the network of deceptive editing — announced last week that she was leaving The Washington Post to start her own newsletter, Substack.
But that was after she reportedly lost the trust of top editors in the newsroom. Jon Levine of The New York Post published a screenshot of a photo Lorenz had uploaded to her Instagram account, according to National Public Radio.
In the photo, Lorenz is wearing a mask while Biden addresses the audience in the background. Directly below Biden's photo is the words “War Criminal” with a frowning emoji next to the words.
Biden has been called a “war criminal” mainly by pro-Palestinian supporters who are outraged by Israel's policies regarding its ongoing military actions in Gaza, Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries.
Lorenz, who attended the White House “Creator Summit” of influencers in August, intended for the photo to be seen by a select number of “close friends” – an Instagram feature that allows users to target ads to a select audience. according to Levine's report in The Post.
She later claimed the photo had been digitally altered, saying, “You people will fall for any stupid alteration someone does.”
However, NPR confirmed Levine's report and confirmed that the original post with the caption “war criminal” was authentic.
Lorenz then wrote on X: “I have literally never 'denied it's true'.” She claimed the post was an “obvious meme”.
According to NPR, Lorenz “intentionally misled” her editors when asked about the social media post. The Washington Post launched an investigation after Levine revealed the contents of his report.
The newspaper did not announce the results of its investigation.
A spokesman for The Washington Post referred The Post to an earlier statement on the matter, saying: “We are grateful for the work Taylor has done for The Washington Post.
“She has given up a career in freelance journalism and we wish her all the best,” a spokesman said.
Lorenz told NPR: “I have no idea about their review.”
“All I know is that they have been incredibly cool and very wonderful to me, and I am on good terms with them.”
She said that the reason for her departure was her desire to work as a freelance journalist.
“I want to give up legacy media as a whole for many reasons,” Lorenz said.
“And this is not a blow to older media. I love and support all my friends in this system, but it is not the right environment for me to do the work I want.”
Washington Post reporters told NPR that while they were impressed by how resourceful and collegial she was in the office, Lorenz could also be unyielding when she came under fire online or was criticized for certain aspects of her work.
In 2022, Lorenz took to social media to accuse one of her editors of inserting errors into her story.
That same year, Lorenz also criticized a Washington Post colleague who expressed an opinion about X on a New York Post article detailing how shock athlete and notorious germ killer Howard Stern was afraid to leave his apartment for fear of contracting COVID.
Lorenz, who still wears a mask in public because she says she has a pre-existing condition, said columnist Helaine Olen's comments were “absurd” and “insensitive.”
