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The Media's Embarrassing Incuriosity About Wuhan
Townhall.com ^ | May 28, 2021 | Tim Graham

Posted on 05/28/2021 4:33:49 AM PDT by Kaslin

Pardon the whiplash! It feels like the media suddenly decided the theory saying the deadly coronavirus leaked from a lab in Wuhan is now considered plausible, when, in 2020, they aggressively dismissed it as a "fringe theory."

It's not a mystery why this happened. The Democrats thought the coronavirus was going to be that silver bullet that would remove former President Trump from office. Their arrogant belief that Trump was an ignoramus led them to shame anyone or any theory that Trump endorsed the year's biggest story. They were willing to embrace the supposed authority of communist China, the China-enabling World Health Organization and the "prevailing opinion" of the science journals and magazines that endorsed Joe Biden for president.

Needless to say, science doesn't operate on this principle. The "hard news" business does.

Washington Post "fact-checker" Glenn Kessler posted an article on May 25 titled "How the Wuhan lab-leak theory suddenly became credible." Kessler's timeline suggested some media figures and media outlets, including two former New York Times science reporters and CBS "60 Minutes," have been warming up to this once-"debunked" thesis since Trump's defeat.

He notes that Sen. Tom Cotton proclaimed during a Jan. 30, 2020, Senate Armed Services Committee hearing: "This coronavirus is a catastrophe on the scale of Chernobyl for China. But actually, it's probably worse than Chernobyl, which was localized in its effect. The coronavirus could result in a global pandemic."

He was even generous enough to say that Cotton "from the start pointed to the lab's location in Wuhan, pressing China for answers, so the history books will reward him if he turns out to be right."

What Kessler leaves unsaid is all the vicious media rhetoric against Cotton for his merely demanding China should have to answer for this. He does admit that "The Trump administration's messaging was often accompanied by anti-Chinese rhetoric that made it easier for skeptics to ignore its claims."

"Tom Cotton keeps repeating a coronavirus conspiracy that was already debunked," warned a headline from his own Washington Post.

"Senator Tom Cotton Repeats Fringe Theory of Conspiracy Origins," screamed The New York Times.

"Tom Cotton is playing a dangerous game with his coronavirus speculation," wrote Chris Cillizza on CNN.com.

Kessler also left out of his timeline his own tweet in which he called the theory "virtually impossible," dismissed Sen. Ted Cruz and promoted his shop's explanatory video on Wuhan: "I fear @tedcruz missed the scientific animation in the video that shows how it is virtually impossible for this virus jump from the lab. Or the many interviews with actual scientists. We deal in facts, and viewers can judge for themselves."

Liberal journalists "deal in facts" -- by asserting the theory is "virtually impossible." What happens when they suddenly reverse themselves? As Kessler demonstrates, even "fact-checkers" do a terrible job of actually apologizing or admitting what they said last year. They pretend like no one could Google it and post it on social media.

This explicit reversal -- this undebunking -- exposes the ridiculousness of the media's assertion that they represent facts, truth and science, and aren't emotionally blinded by Trump hatred. It also exposes the "independent fact-checkers" and their clients such as Facebook who squashed this theory because the liberal knee jerked at every presidential utterance of "China virus" and "Wuhan flu."

One easy way for the media to build trust with a larger readership is to dial down their arrogant belief that they know everything, especially regarding highly important matters on which we were woefully underinformed. Will this massive embarrassment cause them to change anything?


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: covid19; senaterepublicans; tomcotton; wuhan

1 posted on 05/28/2021 4:33:49 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
There will never be any decency in this country again until a symbolic few big media figures receive Julius Streicher therapy.
2 posted on 05/28/2021 4:44:39 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: Vigilanteman

Ass social media in there too. There take over of all speech online ..push mob leftist mentality while shutting down conservatives has been majorly effective.


3 posted on 05/28/2021 5:22:49 AM PDT by snarkytart
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To: snarkytart

Meant ADD 🤭


4 posted on 05/28/2021 5:23:30 AM PDT by snarkytart
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To: snarkytart

For sure. I wonder how well that smarmy little prick who owns Facebook would do dancing the Tyburn Jig. Or the Twitter guy that looks like he crawled out from under a rock.


5 posted on 05/28/2021 5:27:11 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: Kaslin

Hell, they don’t give a tinker’s damn about anything but the leftist agenda. It’s 24 hour coverage when one black criminal is shot by police but silence when 6,000+ blacks are murdered by other blacks every year. They are focused on the Proud Boys but ignore the thousands of “peaceful protesters” in Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, and other places who are burning private and government buildings and rioting and looting like they aren’t even happening.


6 posted on 05/28/2021 6:08:30 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (“Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn,)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Amen

Cities in America have ceased being American


7 posted on 05/28/2021 6:11:56 AM PDT by bert ( (KE. NP. N.C. +12) History: Pelosi was pitiful vindictive California crone)
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To: Kaslin

One reason is that it’s the communist republic of china. Another is that the chicoms helped put biden in the White House. The media is happy to help repay the chicoms for their collusion in the election.


8 posted on 05/28/2021 6:19:28 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Non-binary transnormativity is a construct of intersectionality. Leftist gobbledegook stinks.)
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To: Kaslin

I should think just being part of the Lame Stream Media embarrassment enough.


9 posted on 05/28/2021 11:11:41 AM PDT by jmacusa (America. Founded by geniuses . Now governed by idiots.)
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