Shannon Jankowski is the program director of Journalism and Disinformation at PEN America. Before joining PEN, she was a staff attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press where she led the Reporters Committee’s national amicus practice in matters involving access to courts and records, anti-SLAPP laws, newsgathering torts, and other First Amendment issues impacting the news media. She also represented journalists and news organizations in impact litigation and reviewed investigative news stories and documentary films.
Previously, as an associate attorney at Faegre Baker Daniels, she assisted journalists and news organizations in obtaining access to government and judicial records and represented clients in defamation and right of publicity litigation. During law school, she was a Benjamin B. Ferencz Fellow in Human Rights and Law and served as a special rapporteur at the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court.
Shannon holds a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School with concentrations in human rights law and international law. Prior to attending law school, she was a freelance actress in Minneapolis and St. Paul and has a bachelor’s degree in theater from St. Catherine University.