Controversial tech columnist Taylor Lorenz went after her fellow Washington Post colleague Helaine Olen in a scathing tweet on Tuesday.
Olen, an opinion columnist for The Post, retweeted a story Monday on radio host Howard Stern leaving COVID-19 quarantine for the first time since 2020. She remarked, based on the story, that a conversation needs to be had about people still overly paranoid about the pandemic more than two years after it began.
“At some point we’re going to need to begin a conversation about the people still too afraid to leave their homes because of Covid. I personally know of two such cases. This is not a healthy way to live,” Olen tweeted.
Lorenz commented on Olen’s tweet a day later calling it “absurd” and “insensitive” to COVID victims and the immunocompromised.
Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz tweet reading, "What an absurd, insensitive thing to post."
(Twitter)
“What an absurd, insensitive thing to post. Thousands are dying per week, millions are disabled & we have zero effective drugs that prevent infection. Immunocompromised ppl don’t deserve condescending comments abt being ‘too afraid’ of a virus that can kill or severely disable us,” Lorenz tweeted before she deleted her response, then reposted it again.
Lorenz has attacked fellow commentators before for allegedly minimizing the threat of the coronavirus. After liberal Vox co-founder Matthew Yglesias joked about his COVID diagnosis in June, Lorenz attacked him for his supposed privilege.
“I’m glad it’s a joke for u Matt and that you’re lucky enough to get access to great care, but for those who have had their lives destroyed by the virus and who have had loved ones die from or suffer [with long COVID] it’s not funny. Hope you can have a little more empathy, especially today,” she tweeted.
Lorenz has frequently attacked reporters or columnists who have written about her or criticized her in the wake of her own report doxxing the Libs of TikTok Twitter account holder.
The Washington Post building in Washington D.C.
(REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo)
Despite this, she has repeatedly complained about facing “online harassment,” a grievance she has claimed since her time as a New York Times reporter.
The Washington Post has previously defended Lorenz following controversy. The publication revoked a promotion from deputy features editor David Malitz after he allegedly stealth edited a controversial piece by Lorenz. At the time, Lorenz blamed her editors as well as a “bad faith campaign” against her.
Although Lorenz has criticized other reporters before, this new attack on a coworker comes just a few months after the Washington Post released an updated social media policy on colleagues interacting on Twitter. The policy, released in June, emphasized that Post journalists be “civil” to others and not compromise the paper’s integrity.
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Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz is regularly criticized online.
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“A Post journalist’s use of social media must not harm the editorial integrity or journalistic reputation of The Post,” the memo obtained by Fox News read, “Your association with The Post gives you a large platform and may bring you a blue checkmark and added followers. Along with that comes our collective responsibility to protect that integrity and reputation. This guidance applies to content you post or amplify – such as in a retweet, like or share – on any digital platform.”
The Post did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn and Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
