The Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz broke the news earlier today that the Department of Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board was on the chopping block, along with its fearless leader Nina Jankowicz, who, much like Lorenz herself, was yet another victim of “coordinated right-wing attacks.”
Since Lorenz’s initial reporting, Jankowicz has, in fact, resigned from the Joe Biden’s Ministry of Truth:
https://twitter.com/TaylorLorenz/status/1526953862271184897
This is the most public yet of Nina Jankowicz’s many humiliations. But make no mistake: this is also a very public humiliation for Taylor Lorenz and the Washington Post.
It’s only natural that someone like Glenn Greenwald, an independent journalist with a pretty rock-solid track record on defending free speech, would have some thoughts on Lorenz and WaPo’s willingness to further debase themselves in the name of defending speech policing. And he’s organized those thoughts into another excellent and damning thread:
It's a cause of momentary celebration that the Department of Homeland Security was forced by popular anger to "pause" its Disinformation Board and the absurd #Resistance cartoon they hired to run it, but read this to see how angry WPost and @TaylorLorenz are that this happened: https://t.co/dCY3VKuEua
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 18, 2022
Investigating and criticizing a Homeland Security official is now "harassment" and bullying, according to the WashPost and @TaylorLorenz.
Only ordinary citizens can be investigated — not high-level US Security State operatives. Them's the rules:https://t.co/rtHpupbeMw
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 18, 2022
Recommended
Summary of the rules from the WPost and @TaylorLorenz in case you're confused:
— High-level officials of the Department of Homeland Security: off-limits from investigation and criticism!
— Anonymous citizens who tweet bad ideologies: Dox, Unmask, Bang on relatives' doors! pic.twitter.com/mt1MIRtXZb
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 18, 2022
That’s pretty much it in a nutshell, yeah.
In sum, a free press exists to unmask and punish private citizens with the wrong politics ("shoe-lace reporting"), not to investigate and scrutinize the beliefs, conduct and claims of powerful government officials ("harassment" and bullying).
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 18, 2022
Without having the US Government's Department of Homeland Security have a Disinformation Board run by Nina Jankowicz to decree truth and falsity, how will we know what we should believe and not believe? How can a democracy function without DHS telling us what is true and false?
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 18, 2022
How can a democracy function without extremely warm and fuzzy relationships between members of a Democratic presidential administration and mainstream media journalists?
Also seems odd that WPost allowed @TaylorLorenz (who, credit where due, broke the story of the DHS "pause") to write an entire article arguing Nina Jankowicz should be off-limits from criticism, without mentioning Jankowicz argued the same about Lorenz:https://t.co/Sh6mzcKRe0
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 18, 2022
Well, well, well … would you look at that!
Indeed, Jankowicz has a very long history of defending Lorenz and expressing solidarity for the trauma Lorenz suffers when her work is criticized. That's almost certainly where Lorenz got her version of events and seems like it should be disclosed when Lorenz defends Jankowicz. pic.twitter.com/R49NHCQ3RZ
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 18, 2022
It should be disclosed … in a sane world where mainstream media journalistic integrity is a thing that exists. But that’s not the world we live in. The world we live in is a world in which a serial bully and troll and thug like Taylor Lorenz can be dressed up and paraded and pimped as a principled journalist by other purported principled journalists and we’re all supposed to just sit here and buy into the charade.
***
Update:
More from Greenwald:
The other bizarre aspect of the Nina-Jankowicz/@TaylorLorenz saga: Taylor depicts this poor, marginalized DHS official as the victim of "right-wing" disinformation, when the most devastating investigative piece on her was this one last week in @TheNation:https://t.co/kkDOmQ3dOg
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 18, 2022
In other words, Taylor Lorenz and WaPo are lying liars who lie.
***
Related:
Join the conversation as a VIP Member