{"id":539940,"date":"2021-05-25T13:51:25","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T17:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=539940"},"modified":"2021-05-25T13:51:28","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T17:51:28","slug":"10-times-the-media-slammed-the-wuhan-lab-origin-theory-as-a-conspiracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/10-times-the-media-slammed-the-wuhan-lab-origin-theory-as-a-conspiracy\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Times The Media Slammed The Wuhan Lab Origin Theory As A \u2018Conspiracy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F10-times-the-media-slammed-the-wuhan-lab-origin-theory-as-a-conspiracy%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=539940&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1200641581.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>In the last week, several well-respected scientific experts have acknowledged that COVID-19 may have originated from a lab, shattering the previously sacrosanct consensus that the virus spread from a bat to a human being at a Chinese wet market. The media spent months enforcing the party line, silencing its critics, and humiliating those who suggested the novel coronavirus may have come from a lab \u2014 especially former president Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Those admitting the scientific consensus about the virus\u2019 origins is not as ironclad as once believed include Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has reversed his public stance on whether the virus may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. As the Daily Wire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/fauci-tells-fact-check-event-he-is-not-convinced-covid-19-virus-developed-naturally\">reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"17.641592920354\">\n<p><em>In an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.poynter.org\/united-facts-of-america-a-festival-of-fact-checking\/#1617292338605-0c765c01-ab81\">interview<\/a>&nbsp;earlier this month, published on Saturday, PolitiFact\u2019s Katie Sanders asked Fauci: \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of cloudiness around the origins of COVID-19 still, so I wanted to ask, are you still confident that it developed naturally?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cNo actually,\u201d Fauci said, \u201cI am not convinced about that, I think we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we continue to find out to the best of our ability what happened.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Similarly, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rachel Walensky said in a U.S. Senate hearing last week, \u201cCertainly, a lab-based origin is one possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The media have accordingly updated their story:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cCOVID-19 lab leak theory cannot be ruled out, leading scientists say,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/healthcare-pharmaceuticals\/origins-covid-19-need-be-investigated-further-leading-scientists-say-2021-05-14\/\">reported<\/a> Reuters;<\/li>\n<li>\u201cFauci bombshell: \u2018Not convinced\u2019 COVID-19 developed naturally outside Wuhan lab,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/changing-america\/well-being\/prevention-cures\/555057-fauci-bombshell-not-convinced-covid-19-developed\">proclaimed<\/a> The Hill; and<\/li>\n<li>\u201cNew information on Wuhan researchers\u2019 illness furthers debate on pandemic origins,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/05\/23\/politics\/us-intelligence-report-wuhan-lab-researchers-coronavirus-origin\/index.html\">said<\/a>&nbsp;CNN.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Yet for much of the pandemic, the legacy media belittled those who dared to question the approved origin story. Here are a few of the most egregious examples:<\/p>\n<p><strong>CNN flexed as Fauci \u201ccrushed\u201d Trump\u2019s Wuhan lab theory<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Last May 5, CNN Editor-at-Large Chris Cillizza <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/05\/05\/politics\/fauci-trump-coronavirus-wuhan-lab\/index.html\">wrote<\/a>, \u201cAnthony Fauci just crushed Donald Trump\u2019s theory on the origins of the coronavirus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor weeks now, President Donald Trump has been making the case that the coronavirus originated not in nature but in a lab in Wuhan, China,\u201d wrote Cillizza. He then quoted Dr. Fauci, who said he felt the evidence \u201cstrongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then jumped species.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow, before we play the game of \u2018he said, he said\u2019 remember this: Only one of these two people is a world-renowned infectious disease expert. And it\u2019s not Donald Trump,\u201d he continued.&nbsp;\u201cIn short, Fauci\u2019s view on the origins of the disease matters a whole lot more than Trump\u2019s opinion about where it came from.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His argument previewed the network\u2019s attitude, broadly shared throughout the legacy media, that journalists should not give equal coverage to both sides of a story but highlight the \u201ctrue\u201d one. Doing so in this case resulted in CNN\u2019s embarrassing, public reversal.<\/p>\n<p><strong>USA Today: One of several crazy conspiracy theories <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Just four days after the first American case of COVID-19, USA Today reprinted an article by Jessica McDonald of FactCheck.org <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation\/2020\/01\/25\/wuhan-coronavirus-bogus-conspiracy-theory-spreads-social-media\/4569180002\/\">titled<\/a> \u201cBogus coronavirus conspiracy theory about patents, vaccine spreads on social media.\u201d The story lumped the idea that the coronavirus originated in a lab together with off-the-wall claims that scientists had patented the virus and already developed a vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFollowing \u2026 the announcement of the first American case Jan. 21, several groups and individuals are circulating false rumors on Facebook about the mystery pathogen,\u201d USA Today warned on January 25, 2020. \u201cNumerous posts claim the virus has been patented \u2014 and some even suggest, incorrectly, that the virus was made in a lab and a vaccine already exists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McDonald then dismissed all three theories as equally preposterous. \u201cIt is not true that a vaccine already exists \u2014 just as claims that the virus previously had a patent and was manufactured in a lab are also false,\u201d USA Today insisted.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Foreign Policy: Don\u2019t panic, especially since COVID-19 won\u2019t spread in the West<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Last January 29, Foreign Policy condemned \u201can outbreak of nonsense and conspiracy theories,\u201d such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2020\/jan\/26\/coronavirus-link-china-biowarfare-program-possible\/\">The Washington Times<\/a>\u2019 \u201cclaiming that the virus\u2019 outbreak could be linked to a military lab in Wuhan \u2026 the Wuhan Institute of Virology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The prestigious policy publication told its readers not to worry, because \u201cpublic health officials stress there is no need for panic, especially not in the West where the risk of transmission remains low.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Too bad they didn\u2019t tell the virus.<\/p>\n<p><strong>National Public Radio (NPR): \u201cVirtually no chance\u201d of a lab origin<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cVirus researchers say there is virtually no chance that the new coronavirus was released as result of a laboratory accident in China or anywhere else,\u201d NPR <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/goatsandsoda\/2020\/04\/23\/841729646\/virus-researchers-cast-doubt-on-theory-of-coronavirus-lab-accident\">reported<\/a> last April 23 (at your expense). It equated the Trump administration\u2019s claims that the virus came from the Wuhan lab with Chinese claims that American soldiers spread the virus in China. \u201cIt\u2019s a real shame that the conspiracy theories can get to the level they\u2019ve got with policymakers,\u201d said one of its scientists NPR chose to quote.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NPR (again): Blaming China is just like the run-up to the Iraq war!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Not content to place the Trump administration on par with the People\u2019s Republic of China, taxpayer-funded NPR <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/05\/06\/851043242\/as-trump-pushes-theory-of-virus-origins-some-see-parallels-to-iraq\">compared<\/a> alleged Trump \u201cpressure\u201d on intelligence agencies about the Wuhan lab to intelligence failures about Iraq\u2019s WMDs before the 2003 invasion. \u201cAs Trump Pushes Theory Of Virus Origins, Some See Parallels In Lead-Up To Iraq War\u201d said a story <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/05\/06\/851043242\/as-trump-pushes-theory-of-virus-origins-some-see-parallels-to-iraq\">filed<\/a> by \u201cMorning Edition\u201d reporter Geoff Brumfiel last May 6.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome former intelligence officials and independent analysts now say that the disconnect echoes missteps that led to the 2003 invasion of Iraq,\u201d he said. Brumfiel quoted a think tank denizen, who claimed Trump officials \u201care creating these enormous incentives within the intelligence community to tell them what they want to hear, so they can do what they want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Hill: Lab origins are \u201cbaseless\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Hill <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/hilltv\/what-americas-thinking\/514031-poll-majority-of-americans-buy-into-misinformation-surrounding\">reported<\/a> that an alarming number of Americans thought the virus could have originated in a lab according to a Hill\/HarrisX poll released last August.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA number of Americans have&nbsp;voiced a level of acceptance for&nbsp;baseless theories surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic,\u201d the Capitol-based news source reported. \u201cA majority of registered voters in the poll, 56 percent, said they at least&nbsp;somewhat believe&nbsp;the claim that \u2018COVID-19 was created in a lab,\u2019 despite&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/fivethirtyeight.com\/features\/why-scientists-think-the-novel-coronavirus-developed-naturally-not-in-a-chinese-lab\/\">many scientists<\/a>&nbsp;saying they think the virus&nbsp;developed&nbsp;naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Note to The Hill: Many scientists\u2019 assertions on behalf of one theory do not render other theories \u201cbaseless.\u201d That\u2019s not how science works.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe poll&nbsp;found Republican voters to be more likely than Democratic voters to give stock to&nbsp;the theories and misinformation,\u201d added Hill reporter Gabriela Schulte.<\/p>\n<p><strong>New York Times spreads its own coronavirus conspiracy theory<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This January, the New York Times tried to claim that the Trump administration officials \u201cpushed American spy agencies to hunt for evidence to support an unsubstantiated theory that a government laboratory in Wuhan\u201d (See NPR above.) The paper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/30\/us\/politics\/trump-administration-intelligence-coronavirus-china.html\">told<\/a> its readers that \u201cscientists who have studied the genetics of the coronavirus say that the overwhelming probability is that it leapt from animal to human in a nonlaboratory setting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then it rehearsed its own conspiracy theory. \u201cTrump\u2019s aides and Republicans in Congress have sought to blame China for the pandemic in part to deflect criticism of the administration\u2019s mismanagement of the crisis in the United States, which now has more coronavirus cases than any country,\u201d the newspaper of record asserted without evidence.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Associated Press: Trump admin. \u201cpointing fingers\u201d at China<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The world\u2019s most widely read news service, the Associated Press, portrayed any assertion that the virus came from a Chinese lab as speculation that flies in the face of scientific consensus. \u201cScientists say the virus arose naturally in bats. Even so, [Trump administration Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo and others have pointed fingers at an institute that is run by the Chinese Academy of Sciences,\u201d the AP <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/understanding-the-outbreak-intelligence-agencies-asia-pacific-technology-wuhan-c9499f7b8ab2ae7097c8588f1ccdddea\">wrote<\/a> in an April 30, 2020, article titled \u201cTrump speculates that China released virus in lab \u2018mistake.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis all comes as the pace of Trump\u2019s own original response continues to come under scrutiny, questioned as too meager and too slow,\u201d the AP added helpfully.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vox Media: Multiple \u201cdebunkings\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No one relished challenging claims made by President Trump more than the left-wing website Vox, which posted two in-depth articles on the topic. Last March 12, Eliza Barclay <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2020\/3\/4\/21156607\/how-did-the-coronavirus-get-started-china-wuhan-lab\">wrote<\/a>, \u201cThe conspiracy theories about the origins of the coronavirus, debunked.\u201d After bashing Rush Limbaugh, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Steve Bannon, and China expert Steven Mosher, she wrote that \u201c[t]he scientific evidence disproving these rumors matters because the conspiracy theory could persist and undermine trust in public health authorities at this critical moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not content with one article, she posted a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2020\/4\/23\/21226484\/wuhan-lab-coronavirus-china\">follow-up piece<\/a> on April 23. She wrote: \u201cTrump and the GOP\u2019s motivation to establish new ways to blame China for the pandemic is clear: The president\u2019s response to the pandemic has been abominable, and he faces an election in six months, with more than 22 million people unemployed and an economy heading toward recession.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>ABC News: Trump should keep funding the Wuhan lab\u2019s research<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>ABC News lamented the fact that the Trump administration ended federal funding of research at the Wuhan lab in a story <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/trump-admin-pulls-nih-grant-coronavirus-research-ties\/story?id=70418101\">titled<\/a> \u201cTrump admin pulls NIH grant for coronavirus research over ties to Wuhan lab at heart of conspiracy theories\u201d last May 1.<\/p>\n<p>ABC News called the Wuhan Institute of Virology \u201cthe biomedical lab at the heart of conspiracy theories that the Chinese government created or unleashed the virus or the unproven thesis that the outbreak started with an accident because of faulty safety standards in the lab.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[W]hile U.S. intelligence agencies look for clues of a potential lab accident, epidemiological experts say it\u2019s highly unlikely the first transmission happened that way. Virus samples in labs are almost never still infectious, after being frozen in nitrogen during the collection process and then inactivated in the lab to preserve their genetic sequence,\u201d ABC assured its readers.<\/p>\n<p>The subheadline to the story reads, \u201cDespite Trump\u2019s attacks, the US group doing the research defended the Wuhan lab.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Honorable mention: NPR (threepeat): Demanding accountability could hurt U.S. relations with the Chinese Communist Party<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Concerns about investigating the Wuhan lab\u2019s role in coronavirus did not end with the Trump administration. \u201cSome worry that a hard-charging focus on hypothetical lab accidents might further bog down U.S.-China relations, which are at their rockiest in decades,\u201d NPR <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2021\/03\/31\/983156340\/theory-that-covid-came-from-a-chinese-lab-takes-on-new-life-in-wake-of-who-repor\">worried<\/a> on March 31 of this year. \u201cAnd, for better or worse, pushing hard might make it tougher to get answers about the origins of the pandemic \u2014 which will be difficult to do under any circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the last week, several well-respected scientific experts have acknowledged that COVID-19 may have originated from a lab, shattering the previously sacrosanct consensus that the virus spread from a bat &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2312965,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1200641581.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"10 Times The Media Slammed The Wuhan Lab Origin Theory As A \u2018Conspiracy\u2019","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-539940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1200641581.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"10 Times The Media Slammed The Wuhan Lab Origin Theory As A \u2018Conspiracy\u2019","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2312965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}