A newly-hired New York Times writer is being accused of fabricating an accusation against another reporter in a Tuesday Twitter squabble.
NYT reporter Taylor Lorenz hit back on her colleague Zeynep Tufekci, an op-ed writer, on Twitter Tuesday, writing that Tufekci called her “unqualified to report on the attention economy” two years ago, according to Jon Levine, a New York Post reporter. Levine took a picture of the now-deleted tweet and noted that Lorenz was “taking aim” at a co-worker “in her first month on the job at NYT.”
Lorenz, a Culture of Tech reporter, replied to Levine in another deleted tweet and claimed she wasn’t “taking aim,” adding that Levine should “stop reaching.” Levine took a photo of this tweet as well, according to his Twitter page. Following the confrontation, Lorenz blocked Levine on Twitter, screenshots indicate.
Shortly after, Levine was allegedly un-blocked and Lorenz accused him of faking the photo. Levine acknowledged on Twitter that he had been un-blocked. (RELATED: ‘Extremely Alarming’: Journalists Are Worried About Trump Allies Digging Up Their Own Tweets)
“You’re literally not blocked. Stop trying to make things up it’s so desperate lol,” Lorenz tweeted after Levine wrote that he had been blocked. “This guy literally photoshopped being blocked by me to try to get clout. lolol like how desperate do u gotta be,” shed added.
Levine questioned “how anyone can trust her [Lorenz’s] reporting going forward” after she allegedly fabricated the accusation.
There was no photoshop here. An New York Times reporter is telling a willful and deliberate lie in an attempt to publicly discredit me
I just don’t see how anyone can trust her reporting going forward pic.twitter.com/X6oMsaPAfh
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) September 24, 2019
Lorenz then sent Levine direct messages where she asked if she needed to block him again, he wrote.
“I barely even know how to use photoshop,” Levine tweeted.
Tufekci weighed in on the now-deleted tweets as well, hitting back at Lorenz for bringing up past comments. She did not immediately reply to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
I don’t care about being subtweeted, no need to tag me obviously, but just for the record I’m not a journalist—as per your subtweet!—and neither is Tressie. And we like our facts! Here’s what had prompted my reply to you. You had completely missed her—as usual super smart—point. pic.twitter.com/83fadey33t
— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep) September 24, 2019
Lorenz’s Twitter has largely been wiped clean since the exchange. She caused controversy on the platform in the past when she tweeted in July that air conditioning is “unhealthy, bad, miserable, and sexist.” The comments caused a debate and backlash on Twitter.
Lorenz and the NYT did not reply to a request for comment from the DCNF.
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