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Checking In With The White House's New Disinformation Czar
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People on both sides of the American political spectrum reacted with horror when the Department of Homeland Security announced it was creating a Disinformation Governance Board. For many, the idea of a “Disinformation Governance Board,” sounds a lot like the Ministry of Truth from 1984. It was a rare apt comparison in a world where George Orwell’s novel is often ignorantly invoked.“We have just established a mis- and disinformation governance board in the Department of Homeland Security to more effectively combat this threat, not only to election security but to our homeland security,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during congressional hearings that announced the board’s creation.
Outrage about the Governance Board was compounded when people learned that Nina Jankowicz would be its executive director. Most people had never heard of Jankowicz , but they began to look her up online and quickly rushed to judgment. Jankowicz spent a semester of college in Russia, worked with the Ukraine government as a Fullbright Fellow, and is the author of two books about disinformation.
She’s also a huge musical theater nerd who posted many videos of herself online doing what theater kids do best: embarrassing themselves by singing loudly outside the context of a stage or screen musical number. It was this last detail of Jankowicz’s life that drew the most attention in the days after the announcement of her appointment. She eventually set many of her social media accounts to private.
What was lost in all this discussion, was an analysis of what Jankowicz thinks about disinformation. The DHS is establishing this board. We don’t know what it will do, exactly, but knowing Jankowicz better might help us understand her perspective and how she will operate such an agency.
Angry Planet interviewed her two years ago, well before she was set to head this board. We’re re-airing it today because we think it gives valuable insight into a person who has just been granted undefined power over our lives.
And yes, there’s an embarrassing musical number if you stick around till the end.
image: DHS photo.
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