AG Report 8.21.2024

WaPo’s Lack of Journalistic Standards Tested Again

A great exemplar of the Washington Post’s lack of journalistic standards is their continued employment of Taylor Lorenz. Lorenz’s public activism makes it clear that she’s incapable of being objective. The Post’s solution for her public behavior was to make her a columnist who also writes news pieces. This was bound to backfire on them.

Last week, Lorenz attended a White House event for digital influencers. Not long after, New York Post reporter Jon Levine posted an image he claimed was from Lorenz’s Instagram story, which showed her posing in front of President Biden with a caption that read “War Criminal.”

After her post gained traction and people noted how inappropriate it was for a journalist to post this, Lorenz replied suggesting it was digitally altered. This led to a Community Note being added to Levine’s X post. NPR has now reported that the post is very real. Lorenz lied about being responsible for the post and falsely told her editors that someone else had added the caption.

It’s bad enough for there to be a prominent reporter who’s this immature and views activism as central to reporting. For this person to also be such a carefree liar should be disqualifying.

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