WaPo's Taylor Lorenz runs cover for 'victim' Nina Jankowicz while reporting DHS put pause on Disinfo board

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The Washington Post's "internet culture" journalist Taylor Lorenz offered a sympathetic portrayal of Nina Jankowicz Wednesday while reporting the Department of Homeland Security has decided to "pause" its so-called "Disinformation Governance Board."

Last month, the Biden administration raised eyebrows with the rollout of its new DHS division aimed to combat disinformation, which critics compared to George Orwell's "Ministry of Truth." But Jankowicz's appointment as the board's executive director was widely panned after it was revealed that she herself has a lengthy history of peddling misinformation, including claiming the Hunter Biden laptop was a "Trump campaign product," and numerous unflattering videos surfaced like her infamous "Mary Poppins" parody. 

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However, while revealing that Jankowicz's work was being shelved, the Post went with the headline, "How the Biden administration let right-wing attacks derail its disinformation efforts," claiming that Jankowicz "was the victim of coordinated online attacks."

Nina Jankowicz will be the executive director of the Department of Homeland Security's Disinformation Governance Board. (@wiczipedia Twitter account)

Lorenz touted Jankowicz as a "well-known figure in the field of fighting disinformation and extremism" but complained her appointment "was thrust into the spotlight by the very forces she dedicated her career to combating."

"The board itself and DHS received criticism for both its somewhat ominous name and scant details of specific mission… but Jankowicz was on the receiving end of the harshest attacks, with her role mischaracterized as she became a primary target on the right-wing Internet," Lorenz wrote Wednesday. "She has been subject to an unrelenting barrage of harassment and abuse while unchecked misrepresentations of her work continue to go viral."

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Lorenz claimed the board is being "paused," a decision that was made at DHS on Monday according to multiple DHS employees, and that Jankowicz "had drafted a resignation letter in response to the board’s dissolution."

Washington Post tech columnist Taylor Lorenz during an emotional MSNBC interview. (MSNBC) (MSNBC)

"But Tuesday night, Jankowicz was pulled into an urgent call with DHS officials who gave her the choice to stay on, even as the department’s work was put on hold because of the backlash it faced, according to multiple people with knowledge of the call," Lorenz wrote. "Working groups within DHS focused on mis-, dis- and mal-information have been suspended. The board could still be shut down pending a review from the Homeland Security Advisory Council; Jankowicz is evaluating her position within the department."

The left-wing journalist failed to acknowledge Jankowicz's own checkered past of spreading falsehoods, putting the focus on her critics and placing blame on the DHS for letting her down instead. 

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"Jankowicz’s experience is a prime example of how the right-wing Internet apparatus operates, where far-right influencers attempt to identify a target, present a narrative and then repeat mischaracterizations across social media and websites with the aim of discrediting and attacking anyone who seeks to challenge them. It also shows what happens when institutions, when confronted with these attacks, don’t respond effectively," Lorenz wrote. "Those familiar with the board’s inner workings, including DHS employees and Capitol Hill staffers, along with experts on disinformation, say Jankowicz was set up to fail by an administration that was unsure of its messaging and unprepared to counteract a coordinated online campaign against her."

An image of Nina Jankowicz from Twitter and a hand scrolling through 'fake news'  (Arkadiusz Warguła/iStock)

Lorenz attempted to dismiss the "1984" comparisons, insisting neither Jankowicz nor the board "had any power or ability to declare what is true or false, or compel Internet providers, social media platforms or public schools to take action against certain types of speech. In fact, the board itself had no power or authority to make any operational decisions."

She went on to allege Jankowicz was the subject of a "right-wing disinformation and smear campaign" and that "harassment and reputational harm is core to the attack strategy." She claimed such coordinated campaigns "invariably start with identifying a person to characterize as a villain. Attacking faceless institutions is difficult, so a figurehead (almost always a woman or person of color) is found to serve as its face."

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Lorenz's report was blasted on social media as over-the-top sugarcoating for what critics called a deeply flawed program with a problematic appointee at the top. 

Lorenz has repeatedly spoken out about being harassed online, even participating in an MSNBC interview last month where she said "the worst people on the internet" were trying to destroy her life. She recently came under fire for her report doxxing the woman behind the popular Libs of TikTok Twitter account.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates decried criticism of Jankowicz in a statement to Fox News.

"These smears levelled by bad-faith, rightwing actors against a deeply qualified expert and against efforts to better combat human smuggling and domestic terrorism are disgusting, and the administration has forcefully spoken out against them repeatedly. Neither Nina Jankowicz nor the board have anything to do with censorship or with removing content from anywhere," he said. "Their role is to ensure that national security officials are updated on how misinformation is affecting the threat environment. She has strong credentials and a history of calling out misinformation from both the left and the right."