Furious Nina Jankowicz – Biden’s ‘Disinformation Czar’ – Announces Fox News Has Defeated Her in Court
Nina Jankowicz, who was in line to become the Biden administration’s “disinformation czar” under a short-lived plan to create a Disinformation Governance Board, is crying foul after she lost an appeal of a ruling that sent her defamation lawsuit against Fox News to the landfill.
In July of 2024, Jankowicz lost her initial bid to sue Fox News for defamation. She had claimed Fox’s coverage of the 2022 furor over the creation of the board and its subsequent dissolution crossed the line.
“This was a politically motivated lawsuit aimed at silencing free speech and we are pleased with the court’s decision to protect the First Amendment,” Fox News said. at the time, according to NBC News.
On Sept. 12, a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit said the district court got it right.
“Jankowicz’s position — that criticism of government is transformed into actionable defamation when a television program displays an image of a government official or references a government official’s name in the same segment — is precisely the sort of attack on core free expression rights that Sullivan sought to avoid,” the ruling said, referencing the landmark NY Times vs. Sullivan case that raised the bar for libel suits from individuals involved in public affairs.
But Jankowicz said she is right and the judges are wrong.
Calling herself a “disinformation researcher,” Jankowicz posted online that she was “furious” at the loss, claiming the justice system “too often protects offenders instead of victims.”
As noted by Axios, the trial court ruling said 36 of 37 statements Jankowicz contested focused on the board and not her.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Colm Connolly wrote that a statement by Fox News host Sean Hannity, that “the Board was a ‘department … dedicated to working with the special media giants for the purpose of policing information'” was “not defamatory” because the statement was “not false.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/09/furious-nina-jankowicz-bidens-disinformation-czar-announces-fox/