The Associated Press desperately tried to defend the self-proclaimed “Mary Poppins of disinformation” from her own words and ended up undercutting itself in the process.
AP put out one of its so-called “fact-checks” headlined: “Old comments by disinformation board director misrepresented online.” The outlet took issue with users and outlets claiming Disinformation Governance Board (DGB) Executive Director Nina Jankowicz “said she wants verified Twitter users to be able to edit other users’ tweets” during a January 2021 video conference on “disinformation.” AP complained that such claims were “missing context.” According to the AP’s spin: “[Jankowicz]Was explaining a program that Twitter offers [Birdwatch] that allows certain users to write notes contextualizing claims made in tweets.”
But the AP fact-check undermined itself by quoting Jankowicz in the 15th paragraph saying: “It’s a good idea to add context to tweets, claims, and other online content rather than just remove it..” AP spun that Jankowicz “did not say she personally wanted verified users to edit tweets, nor has she said she plans to implement something similar through the [DGB].” Rather, the outlet said in the 14th paragraph: “[H]You can read the full comments here Be clearIn response to a query, she explained Twitter’s program. She does not propose her own ideas.” Newsflash, AP: Jankowicz saying she “like[s] the idea” of users editing others’ tweets means she backs the idea and could work to implement it during her tenure leading the DGB. Big Government shouldn’t be anywhere near the business of censoring at all.
Jankowicz even likened Twitter’s Birdwatch to the liberal Wikipedia, which she said “morphed” into a “pretty good starting point for some research, and like, with a grain of salt …can be a good place to start for context.”
In fact, the primary issue that Jankowicz focused on during the conference concerning the Twitter Birdwatch model simply involved “scale ultimately,” a program that AP It was not much more. According to Jankowicz, one part of the issue is that Twitter was too small: “Twitter is a much smaller platform than something like Facebook or umm, YouTube or, really, most other platforms.” Another issue Jankowicz cited is that Twitter’s Birdwatch asks “volunteer fact-checkers to do their work for them. So, we’re going to have problems scaling it up. It’s not a solution that works for everything.” In essence, Jankowicz argued that Twitter’s Birdwatch model, which she likened to Wikipedia, doesn’t go far enough or have adequate editors.
Jankowicz championed the alleged views of leftist Harvard University Shorenstein Center Research Director Joan Donovan, who once reportedly proposed that Biden institute a 9/11 Commission-styled “truth commission,” similar to the DGB. Jankowicz stated that Donovan was a pivot of Jan 6. Capitol Hill riot to advocate for “librarians” of the internet:
To save ourselves from misinformation, we need a lot of Librarians will archive and categorize the information, footage and other data that has been uploaded to the internet to help platforms navigate it. Conserve what is most important [emphasis added.]
AP conveniently omitted Jankowicz’s citation of Donovan from its “fact-check.”
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