VCs attack coverage, NY Times reporter Lorenz

A number of venture capitalists criticized how they are portrayed in journalism, specifically going after New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz, in an audio social network site, reports Vice reporters Jason Koebler, Anna Merian and Joseph Cox.

Koebler, Merian and Cox report, “The exclusive users of Clubhouse on the call seemed to conceive of themselves as humble citizens preyed upon by corrupted elites cravenly lusting after money and power; this reached a bizarre apogee when Srinivasan boasted of standing up for the CEO of a scandal-plagued luggage brand, depicting her as all but powerless because of her relatively low Twitter follower count. The conversation essentially resembled a Gamergate chat, with people obsessing over minute drama and, at times, suggesting that Lorenz had crossed a line on Twitter and must be punished.

“‘How can there be an accountability function that’s implementable across all media that allows for that to happen, that pushback to happen without it being turned around and can become some toxic thing where all types of power dynamics are being used, and people have their weapons out,’ Jones said.

“‘Her employer should be saying, you cross the line with your editorial comments,’ Martin said, adding that ‘If I’m [Srinivasan], the argument that I would make to her bosses is you should be instructing your reporters not to be making editorial judgments about someone. Stick to reporting.’

“‘Taylor is an excellent reporter doing incredibly relevant reporting for this moment. She, and all reporters, should be able to do their jobs without facing harassment,’ Choire Sicha, editor of the NYTimes Styles desk, told Motherboard in an email.”

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