America’s ‘Ministry of Truth,’ Part II: The Institution

A misinformation newsstand set up by the Columbia Journalism Review is seen in midtown Manhattan on Oct. 30, 2018, aiming to educate news consumers about the dangers of disinformation, or fake news, in the lead-up to the US midterm elections. ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images

Commentary

Part I of this series about America’s “Ministry of Truth” covered the media narratives of Soviet Russia, George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” and that of the United States—a narrative fueled by a devastating comment made by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who declared that “America was never that great.”