The New York Times reported on Friday that after the fallout from Taylor Lorenz’s article on the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial, the Washington Post moved her “from the features staff to the technology team” and that “Cameron Barr, the WaPo’s No. 2 editor, has been asked to review her articles before publication”:
More news in here: @TaylorLorenz has been moved from the features staff to the technology team. Cameron Barr, the WaPo's No. 2 editor, has been asked to review her articles before publicationhttps://t.co/i5BZ72jsC6?
— Ben Mullin (@BenMullin) June 17, 2022
Boy, it went from being a right-wing conspiracy to having the No. 2 editor “babysit her” right quick:
I was told issues with Taylor Lorenz was a right wing conspiracy against her which makes assigning the No. 2 editor to babysit her a bit odd. https://t.co/jZXM73UHSt
— The Wokest Numbersmuncher (@NumbersMuncher) June 17, 2022
It does sound like they are “starting to grasp the magnitude of their optics problem”:
Someone in management there is starting to grasp the magnitude of their optics problem. https://t.co/YWXKQiofb4
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) June 17, 2022
And it sure sounds like Lorenz was moved internally over what happened with David Malitz, the editor who reportedly triggered the multiple corrections on the article. He had his promotion at the Washington Post pulled after the incident but WaPo executive editor Sally Buzbee won’t say why:
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Before the corrections, Ms. Buzbee had offered the well-respected editor, David Malitz, a promotion to run the features department, according to one person with knowledge of the offer. He had agreed to take it. But several days later, Ms. Buzbee pulled the offer.
In the meeting with the features group, Ms. Buzbee fielded angry questions about Mr. Malitz’s treatment. She said he was “in no way reprimanded or punished for any errors,” according to a copy of notes taken at the meeting, but would not say what was behind her decision. She said she couldn’t talk about personnel issues.
LOL. Now we can’t do posts on articles in the New York Times?
Oh, jeez, really? Singling out @TaylorLorenz in this way gives feed corn to the pigs who troll her. Who in the world cares what department a reporter is in or who edits her copy? https://t.co/L8xdTZmWcd
— Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) June 17, 2022
The NYT also reported that the executive editor Buzbee is still “facing internal strife” at the paper:
"Buzbee is now on the defensive, yet to completely win over the newsroom and facing internal strife that has eclipsed some of her bold plans"
Context about/fallout from WaPo's recent public online conflagrations from @katie_robertson @BenMullin https://t.co/xVZZ134hAD— Katie Benner (@ktbenner) June 17, 2022
And we expect it will get worse for her as the company’s new social media policy is vague, at best:
policies like these are great at not clarifying anything https://t.co/PCydZhuIFv pic.twitter.com/rQdrXXDsUe
— Rachel Cohen (@rmc031) June 17, 2022
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