Tech columnist Lorenz leaving Washington Post to start publication

Tech culture columnist Taylor Lorenz is exiting The Washington Post to launch her own publication on the Substack platform to cover technology from the users perspective, writes Alex Weprin of The Hollywood Reporter.

Weprin writes, “Lorenz is launching User Magazine, which will ‘cover technology from the user side. It’s about who has power on the internet and how that power is being wielded,’ she says.

“‘I just wanted to get out of legacy media. I feel like it’s just really, really difficult to do the kind of reporting that I want to do on the internet within these kind of older institutions as a primary job,’ Lorenz tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. ‘I like to have a really interactive relationship with my audience. I like to be very vocal online, obviously. And I just think all of that is really hard to do in the roles that are available at these legacy institutions.’

“‘I think also legacy institutions generally have just really struggled to cover the internet in any meaningful way, I think that they often sort of shy away from the internet,’ she adds. ‘I write about the attention economy, and I write about the content creator industry, and I just want complete autonomy to write and do and say whatever I want, and engage a little bit more directly with my readers, with the public, when it comes to my work.’

“Lorenz says that while User Mag will initially just be her, she would like to add contributors over time, and also expand it to other mediums.”

Read more here.