Tipsheet

The Photo That Got WaPo's Taylor Lorenz Into Some Very Hot Water

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  August 17, 2024 6:30 AM

Taylor Lorenz, the controversial reporter at The Washington Post, is in serious trouble. You might have seen a certain photo of her masked up, taking a selfie with Biden in the background with the caption “war criminal.” She tried to mock those who exposed this nasty post, claiming it to be misinformation, an edited photo. There’s one problem: it’s not. Now, senior editors at the paper are deciding what to do next. Even NPR reported on this: 

The Post’s Taylor Lorenz attended a White House event for digital influencers on Wednesday. In the photo she shared with a circle of friends on Instagram, Biden appears over her shoulder; the damning caption rests just below him, accompanied by a text frowny face. 

After the New York Post’s Jon Levine — a frequent critic of hers — revealed the Instagram photo caption yesterday in a tweet, Lorenz wrote back at him: “You people will fall for any dumbass edit someone makes.” 

A fact-check appended to Levine’s tweet cited her apparent denial. (The contextual note to the tweet says, “Taylor Lorenz says this is a digital manipulation which has added a false caption.”) Lorenz told her editors that someone else had added the caption to the photo. 

NPR has obtained a screengrab of Lorenz’s actual post, which contained that caption. It was not shared with her wider Instagram audience of 143,000 followers. 

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. 

“Our executive editor and senior editors take alleged violations of our standards seriously,” a spokesperson for the newspaper told NPR. “We’re aware of the alleged post and are looking into it.” Lorenz declined to comment. 

What a disaster for Lorenz, but she’s earned it. Do you think the publication will let her go?