{"id":1411055,"date":"2022-03-30T17:31:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T21:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1411055"},"modified":"2022-03-30T17:31:07","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T21:31:07","slug":"china-advocate-taylor-lorenz-blasts-washington-post-colleagues-for-reporting-fake-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/china-advocate-taylor-lorenz-blasts-washington-post-colleagues-for-reporting-fake-news\/","title":{"rendered":"China Advocate Taylor Lorenz Blasts Washington Post Colleagues for Reporting Fake News"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchina-advocate-taylor-lorenz-blasts-washington-post-colleagues-for-reporting-fake-news%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1411055&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/media\/\">Media<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Was recently denounced as &#8216;cringey&#8217; for comments on &#8216;the power of having your own brand&#8217;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/andrew-stiles\/\" title=\"Posts by Andrew Stiles\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Andrew Stiles<\/a> \u2022 March 30, 2022 5:20 pm<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Taylor Lorenz, the country&#8217;s foremost public advocate for TikTok, continued her advocacy work on Wednesday by attacking her journalist colleagues at the <em>Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0for reporting fake news about the Chinese-owned spyware app for teens.<\/p>\n<p>Lorenz, who <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/media\/washington-post-taylor-lorenz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">joined<\/a> the <em>Post<\/em> earlier this year in an effort to cultivate her personal &#8220;brand,&#8221; co-authored an extensive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/technology\/2022\/03\/30\/facebook-tiktok-targeted-victory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">story<\/a> that purports to reflect negatively on Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook), which happens to be one of TikTok&#8217;s biggest competitors. The story implies that Meta, an American company, did something wrong or unusual by hiring Targeted Victory, a public relations firm, to undermine its Chinese-owned rival by promoting negative stories about TikTok in local media markets, among other tactics. What Lorenz describes as a &#8220;bare-knuckle&#8221; scheme appears to be little more than a standard PR campaign.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the PR firm &#8220;worked to amplify negative TikTok coverage&#8221; in part by keeping track of what Lorenz refers to as &#8220;dubious local news stories\u00a0citing TikTok as the origin of dangerous teen trends,&#8221; and working with local media consultants to &#8220;promote these alleged TikTok trends.&#8221; Lorenz cites stories about the &#8220;devious licks&#8221; TikTok challenge, which\u00a0involved students vandalizing school property, as an example of the firm&#8217;s success in reaching local media markets &#8220;across Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The story does not mention the fact that the <em>Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0published several articles about the &#8220;devious licks&#8221; challenge.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Enticed by a viral TikTok challenge, students have pilfered or vandalized items at their schools and then showed off their antics, or \u2018devious licks,&#8217; on the popular social media platform\u2014often as a sped-up version of \u2018Ski Ski BasedGod&#8217; by rapper Lil\u2019 B plays in the background,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/technology\/2021\/09\/17\/devious-licks-tik-tok\/?itid=ap_kimbellware\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a> national breaking news reporter Kim Bellware in September 2021.\u00a0Around that same time, the <em>Post<\/em> ran an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/lifestyle\/2021\/09\/21\/devious-licks-parenting-advice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">op-ed<\/a> headlined, &#8220;How to talk to your kids about the Devious Licks school TikTok challenge.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\" data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\">&#8220;For much of September, the \u2018devious licks&#8217; TikTok challenge drove young people to rip soap dispensers off bathroom walls, steal random classroom items and even remove\u00a0entire toilets from their stalls,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2021\/10\/06\/tiktok-slap-teacher-challenge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a> national reporter Julian Mark several weeks later. &#8220;Some students have been\u00a0criminally charged\u00a0for partaking in the challenge, and TikTok has\u00a0attempted\u00a0to scrub videos and hashtags associated with the trend from its platform.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\">Several days later, general assignment reporter Lateshia Beachum <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/education\/2021\/10\/08\/tiktok-teacher-slap-louisiana\/\">reported<\/a> that &#8220;a Louisiana teenager could face up to five years behind bars for assaulting a teacher, an attack that authorities say could have been inspired by a TikTok challenge.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\">As of Wednesday afternoon, none of the articles had been corrected, despite Lorenz&#8217;s suggestion that the stories are false, that the &#8220;devious licks&#8221; challenge did not originate on TikTok and may have been inspired by rumors on Facebook. The entire story reads as though it was written by a public relations firm doing anti-Facebook advocacy on behalf of TikTok.<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\">It is not the first time Lorenz has instigated a controversy among her journalistic colleagues. The TikTok advocate, best known for <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/satire\/taylor-lorenz-birthday-celeb\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">attending<\/a> an internet celeb&#8217;s 16th birthday party, <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/media\/taylor-lorenz-meme-girl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">caused a stir<\/a> earlier this month when she spoke to <em>Business Insider<\/em> for a story about how her former employer, the <em>New York Times<\/em>, was struggling to retain journalists like herself who are primarily focused on being influencers and building a personal brand.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When you think about the future of media, it&#8217;s much more distributed and about personalities,&#8221; Lorenz said.\u00a0&#8220;Younger people recognize the power of having their own brand and audience, and the longer you stay at a job that restricts you from outside opportunities, the less relevant your brand becomes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Several of Lorenz&#8217;s current and former colleagues did not appreciate her remarks. &#8220;Will never not be cringey to earnestly refer to \u2018your brand,'&#8221; Jacqueline Alemany, a congressional correspondent for the\u00a0<em>Post<\/em>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JaxAlemany\/status\/1499149585297592324\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tweeted<\/a>\u00a0in response. At least 10 current <em>Times<\/em> and <em>Post<\/em> employees &#8220;liked&#8221; the tweet. Most notably, <em>Times<\/em> reporter Maggie Haberman promoted the tweet to her 1.7 million followers. The next day, roughly one week after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, she posted a response to Alemany&#8217;s tweet: &#8220;Is there something going on in the world other than the desire of some folks to get more attention?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The former colleagues have a contentious history.\u00a0Lorenz reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/inside-the-drama-shaking-up-the-new-york-times-styles-section?ref=home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">called<\/a> Haberman a &#8220;bitch&#8221; after the pair got into a &#8220;blow-up&#8221; argument about Lorenz&#8217;s obsession with Claudia Conway, the teenage daughter of former White House adviser Kellyanne Conway.<\/p>\n<p>Lorenz, 37, is the author of the forthcoming book\u00a0<em>Extremely Online: Gen Z, the Rise of Influencers, and the Creation of a New American Dream<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Media Was recently denounced as &#8216;cringey&#8217; for comments on &#8216;the power of having your own brand&#8217;  Andrew Stiles \u2022 March 30, 2022 5:20 pm Taylor Lorenz,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1411055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1411055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1411055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1411055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1411055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1411055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1411055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}