Taylor Lorenz, the tech columnist for The Washington Post, said that she is departing the media outlet for her own Substack publication, described as a “user magazine.”
“We now live in a world where politicians can post their way into office, memes fuel our stock market, and online culture and mainsteam culture are so deeply intertwined that it’s impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins,” Lorenz wrote in her initial post.
Her publication, User Mag, will report “one the people and movements that are steering tech and internet culture, from weird online phenomena, to under-the-radar trends, to content creators. platform developments, policy initiatives, and powerful forces that shape our online world,” she wrote.
Lorenz wrote that the publication will arrive via email 1-3 times per week, and paid subscribers will have commenting privileges and exclusive content, among other benefits. She also said that she will be doing her weekly podcast, Power User, with Vox Media.
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Subscriptions will be $7 per month, and $70 per year.
She wrote, “I’ve always operated in a weird liminal space, often labeled as an “influencer” or content creator as much as a journalist. And I am, and have always been, both. But the legacy media is not set up for people like me.
“The truth is that in today’s media environment, these distinctions are meaningless. We are all part of the same media ecosystem; we can all have a voice online. These artificial lines were demolished years ago.”
Lorenz is the latest high-profile journalist to move into independent journalism. Among those who have recently done so: Oliver Darcy, the top media reporter for CNN, launched a newsletter, Status.
Lorenz joined the Post in 2022, having previously worked as a technology reporter for The New York Times and, before that, for The Daily Beast. She gained significant notoriety for her coverage of internet culture, including expose on Jake Paul and other illuminating pieces on influencers and what has been labelled as the “attention” economy.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported on her departure for the new venture.
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