Earlier tonight we reported on how the New York Times crashed and burned in their official response to the “controversy” drummed up by the media after Tucker Carlson had the nerve to criticize one of the paper’s reporters on his program Tuesday night.
The segment in question from Carlson was on how powerful and privileged people like Meghan Markle were oddly declaring themselves powerless, and that it made no sense. Carlson took issue with NYT tech reporter Taylor Lorenz trotting out the “online harassment” victim card on International Women’s Day, especially considering her position at the supposed newspaper of record at a time when so many are out of work.
“Journalists” at the WaPo, AP, the Daily Beast, and other “news” outlets accused Carlson of trying to stir up harassment against Lorenz, making absurd claims that in no way matched the reality of the situation, as I noted in an extensive write-up this morning.
The Times weighed in this afternoon with a brief statement in which they slammed Carlson and claimed Lorenz provided valuable reporting for the paper, yada yada:
“In a now familiar move, Tucker Carlson opened his show last night by attacking a journalist. It was a calculated and cruel tactic, which he regularly deploys to unleash a wave of harassment and vitriol at his intended target. Taylor Lorenz is a talented New York Times journalist doing timely and essential reporting. Journalists should be able to do their jobs without facing harassment.”
The “timely and essential reporting” Lorenz does for a living is exactly the kind of thing she and her defenders accused Carlson of doing: Social media naming and shaming, complete with a side of trying to be chummy with the teenage kids of high-profile political figures like Kellyanne and George Conway – without their permission.
Carlson addressed the nontroversy tonight by opening up a can of you-know-what on the paper, pointing out that unlike the New York Times, he would never seek out nor assign a staff member to find the home addresses of New York Times reporters in order to harass them (which the Times actually tried to do to Carlson and his family last year before he called them out on TV).
He also noted that it was rather fascinating that the Times seemed to believe that they should be allowed to target people with impunity but that when their criticisms were turned around on them, they hid behind the “journalist” shield so as to avoid responsibility for their actions.
Watch Carlson’s commentary on the topic below, which should be considered a clinic on how not to back down from predictable leftist outrage mobs when you’re under social media fire:
Tucker Carlson responds to the New York Times statement accusing him of harassment for his segment criticizing Taylor Lorenz:
“Journalists make their living trying to destroy your life but if you say a single word about it, you’re a criminal, a moral monster.” pic.twitter.com/gUWqftCUp1
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) March 11, 2021
He later interviewed The Federalist’s Sean Davis, who provided more details on just how extensive Lorenz’s naming and shaming game actually is.
As I said earlier, while threats of violence are indeed wrong, there is nothing wrong whatsoever with criticizing journalists. They should be no more above reproach than the local postmaster. Also, there is a difference between mere criticism of a journalist versus an attack designed to do maximum damage to all aspects of their life. What Carlson did last night was the former. What the New York Times attempted to do last year was the latter.
There are two morals to the story here. The first one is that you don’t get to name and shame people for a living and then turn around and trot out the “he’s attacking me!” card when your tactics are turned around on you (albeit on a much smaller scale).
The second one is very simple:
This is just pathetic. The Times should have told Ms. Lorenz that this is America where journalists who are free to use their platforms to criticize others should expect to be criticized, sometimes, harshly and unfairly, in return. That is not harassment. Get a grip. pic.twitter.com/8jUUlZk9Hz
— Brit Hume (@brithume) March 10, 2021
In other words: grow the hell up.
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