On Wednesday conservatives on Twitter blasted Washington Post tech reporter Taylor Lorenz for blaming the stalling of the Department of Homeland Security's "Disinformation Governance Board" on "right-wing" attacks.
Lorenz specifically charged that Nina Jankowicz, the woman who was tasked with leading the new board last month and officially resigned shortly after Lorenz's article published, was victimized by "coordinated online attacks," leading to a "pause" being put on the initiative.
Lorenz wrote, "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."
Conservatives criticized Jankowicz for heading a government agency tasked with combating disinformation online while she herself had history of promoting several debunked theories, including that former President Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 presidential election and that Hunter Biden’s laptop was a Russian disinformation operation.
WaPo reporter Taylor Lorenz blames 'right-wing' attacks for pausing Disinformation Governance Board.
Still, Lorenz couched pushback to Jankowicz’s lack of qualifications as conservatives characterizing her as a "villain." She wrote, "The [right-wing disinformation and smear 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."
As soon as Washington Post published the article and Lorenz promoted it on Twitter, conservatives reacted.
Independent journalist Aaron Maté offered his own interpretation of what The Washington Post should have said in their piece: "Translated into actual journalism, ‘online attack’ means pointing out that the head of the ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ is a partisan actor who has spread disinformation. And also that the government, a purveyor of disinformation, has no business policing it."
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, tweeted, "The Washington Post is really upset the new Ministry of Truth is being scrapped."
Mollie Hemingway skewers WaPo over article defending "Disinformation Governance Board" and its head.
Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway slammed "Bezos’ paper" for the article, tweeting, "Jeff Bezos' paper hot mad that real journalists exposed a radical Democrat disinformation agent (who Biden picked to run a completely dystopic ‘disinformation’ board against the American people and our culture of free speech out of DHS)."
Senior Writer at RealClearInvestigations Mark Hemingway, tweeted, "'Nina Jankowicz was the victim of coordinated online attacks...' This is gaslighting and misinformation. The vast majority of attacks' on Jankowicz were organic disgust over her absurd statements, own misinformation problems, and the laughable Harry Potter crap."
"Responses to this like ‘yeah, the leader herself spread disinformation’ really lost the plot," tweeted conservative commentator Logan Hall. "It’s impossible for leftists to spread disinformation. they invented the term because they decide what constitutes acceptable discourse. it was always progressive thought police," he added.
WMAL radio host and Daily Caller editor Vince Coglianese tweeted, "This entire piece is a slobbering defense of power… Not a moment of concern about the way govt bodies are used as a predicate for censorship… Not a single mention of Jankowicz's long record of credulously pushing blueanon conspiracy theories."
WMAL radio host skewers WaPo piece defending Disinformation Governance Board from Right-Wingers.
"This piece is so poorly written and so poorly sourced it’s humiliating," tweeted conservative PR specialist Chris Barron.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton summed up the situation, writing, "Breaking: Biden 'Ministry of Truth' on 'pause' -- leftists at @WashingtonPost are angry."
National Taxpayers Union Foundation Vice President of Communications and Outreach Kevin Glass asked, "Is the disinformation board a good idea?" He indicated he didn’t know the answer to that question, but did state, "But what the trusted media can definitively tell you is that people were mean to the person nominated to run it on the internet."
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Author Josh Barro replied to Glass’ statement with some sarcasm, tweeting, "When people are mean to someone I like, that's disinformation."
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