News/Commentary

Tucker Carlson digs into Wa-Po’s Libs of TikTok story and finds stunning connections

April 20, 2022 | | Print Article

As The Washington Post came to the defense of its “accomplished and diligent journalist” after she came under heavy fire for exposing a social media influencer, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson took a torch to the reporter and leftist media.

Cameron Barr, the Post’s senior managing editor, issued a statement praising the reporting methods of Taylor Lorenz in naming the woman who has anonymously been behind the popular Twitter account “Libs of TikTok.”

Lorenz unleashed a furious backlash for essentially hunting down Chaya Raichik, even allegedly searching for information at several of Raichik’s family members’ homes, as she concluded her mission with an article, “Meet the woman behind Libs of TikTok, secretly fueling the right’s outrage machine.”

She claimed that the Twitter account holder “reposts a steady stream of TikTok videos and social media posts, primarily from LGBTQ+ people, often including incendiary framing designed to generate outrage.”

But Lorenz, who hypocritically cried over allegedly being bullied and criticized, had no qualms essentially doing the same to Raichik. But the furor over her so-called reporting was staunchly defended at The Post.

“Taylor Lorenz is an accomplished and diligent journalist whose reporting methods comport entirely with The Washington Post’s professional standards,” said Barr in a statement, even backing the news value of her report.

“Chaya Raichik, in her management of the Libs of TikTok Twitter account and in media interviews, has had significant impact on public discourse and her identity had become public knowledge on social media. We did not publish or link to any details about her personal life,” Barr added.

Lorenz’s story was also justified in a long Twitter thread posted by NBC News’ Ben Collins who claimed Raichik was “boosted by a series of big money far-right influencers and networks, including Fox News” and that she has a following “literally larger than the population of Vermont.”

But according to many of Lorenz’s critics, calling the “Libs of TikTok” account a “hate account” and exposing its owner because of disagreements over her views is not actually journalism.

“Taylor Lorenz is a terrible journalist and worse human. Targeting a Twitter account that literally just posts Leftists owning themselves because that account damages the Left is pure Lorenz,” tweeted Ben Shapiro.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson slammed Lorenz and the left-wing media for targeting Raichik who had recently appeared anonymously on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

In his opening monologue on Tuesday, Carlson recounted how the successful Libs of TikTok account was “comprised almost solely of videos of liberals talking about themselves. The concept was very simple: Find interesting tape that had already been uploaded to the internet by the people who made it and then repost that tape. There was no editing of it, no special effects. There was very little editorial content.”

“We aired a number of their videos on the show, and we are grateful for their reporting. It was far more straightforward than anything you’re going to find in The New York Times or The Washington Post because it wasn’t accompanied by a lot of bloviating. They just showed you the tape, and you can decide. That’s journalism,” Carlson continued, showing several examples.


(Video: Fox News)

“So, of course, that Twitter feed had to be shut down,” the Fox News host said, noting how hit pieces were written about the site and that Twitter even temporarily suspended the account twice.

“So ultimately, Jeff Bezos weighed in. Bezos’ personal newspaper, The Washington Post, decided to harass the family of the woman who operates the Libs of TikTok. They couldn’t find her, so they went after her family,” he said, explaining how Lorenz “set about trying to find the woman herself.”

He lambasted Lorenz for “effectively acting as the Stasi for the Deep State, trying to intimidate a private citizen into silence,” reminding viewers how the reporter had actually had a meltdown on MSNBC about her own experiences being bullied.

“So this is obviously an intimidation campaign designed to shut down a highly effective Twitter feed. But take one step deeper into the story and ask yourself: Did Taylor Lorenz, the woman you just saw crying on TV because she has PTSD, did she really do the reporting here? Did she really track down the personal information of the woman who runs Libs of TikTok?” Carlson asked. “Please, of course not.”

Taylor Lorenz is not a reporter. Apart from whining about herself on television, she has no skills. She couldn’t do a weather forecast in a rainstorm. She’s not a journalist, she is merely a receptacle for information other people gather for their own ends,” he added, going into more detail about “who’s paying for this?”

“Lots of questions here. We hope we can get to the bottom of all of them,” he concluded.

Frieda Powers
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