What led Lorenz to leave the Washington Post

Taylor Lorenz

David Folkenflik of NPR writes about the departure of tech columnist Taylor Lorenz from The Washington Post to start her own publication.

Folkenflik writes, “Lorenz’s professional fate at the paper was in doubt even prior to her announcement. Since August, its editors had grappled with the disclosure that Lorenz had labeled President Biden a ‘war criminal’ in a selfie from a White House event in which Biden was visible in the background. She had circulated the picture to friends in a private social media post.

“Lorenz, a frequent and often divisive presence online, never wrote for the paper again.

“Three people at the Post with knowledge of events tell NPR that Lorenz lost the trust of the newsroom’s leadership both by posting that selfie with the caption about Biden and then by willfully misleading editors in claiming that she had not done so.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.