The Washington Post's Taylor Lorenz has been relegated to the technology section, which is fitting since that was her beat at The New York Times, her previous employer. The move was not voluntary—Lorenz stepped in it reporting on the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial that reportedly cost an editor a possible promotion. The story wasn't about the trial—it was about social media influencers who have made big bucks posting updates about the defamation suit whose venue was the Fairfax County Courthouse.
And it's a problem when you write that you tried to contact such people for comment when, in fact, you didn't. The fallout from this piece, plus her other piece, which doxxed the woman behind the Libs of TikTok Twitter account, probably led to the front office placing guardrails on Lorenz. So, what does Lorenz do to garner attention? She declares all-out war against an NBC reporter for butchering a segment about the online harassment she has endured over the years.
The Twitter thread Lorenz posted about this subject wasn't a slap on the wrist but a complete excoriation of NBC's Morgan Radford for allegedly throwing her under the bus for cheap views. Lorenz continued that she never thought a female journalist would affront her in such a manner and warned others not to trust TV reporters to get the story right because they're indifferent.
No bigger regret in my career than making the mistake of thinking @MorganRadford knew how to accurately report on abuse/ harassment. Her complete mishandling of the story has led to immense fallout and months of abuse. I cannot warn women loudly enough to stay away from her/MSNBC
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) September 13, 2022
Women journalists constantly ask me how to get their stories out, or whether they should do interviews. All I can say is do NOT trust anyone in the media to tell your story or report on harassment accurately, especially TV news people. They do not care about u or getting it right
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) September 13, 2022
I’m so grateful to the orgs I’ve been able to work w/ to educate people on issues of online harassment & abuse. We need to change how the media tells these stories and force newsrooms to take this stuff seriously. It’s been almost a decade since gamergate, we can do better
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) September 13, 2022
Taylor Lorenz is going after woman who made that MSNBC segment that spawned a bunch of memes about her. pic.twitter.com/Mf993JmpHi
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) September 13, 2022
Holy sh** https://t.co/YL0ky4Bt9u
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 13, 2022
Is she just bored? This segment happened months ago, which makes this Twitter screed a quintessential delayed reaction. If you missed the story, you've probably seen the memes where Lorenz is crying, leading to caption contests, each more hilarious than the last.
If we've learned anything, it's that Lorenz is someone who should be kept at arm's length if you're an employee of the Post.