by Brianna Lyman, The Daily Caller:
Now that the coronavirus origin lab-leak theory is gaining credibility, members of the “follow the science” crowd are finally admitting they chose not to cover – or in some cases actively “debunked” – the theory because former President Donald Trump pushed it.
“It has become evident that some corners of the mainstream media overcorrected when it came to one particular theory from Trump and his allies: that the coronavirus emanated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, rather than naturally,” Washington Post Senior Reporter Aaron Blake wrote in an analysis piece published Monday. “It’s also true that many criticisms of the coverage are overwrought and that Trump’s and his allies claims invited and deserved skepticism.”
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And members of the media from various outlets have come out and stated their reluctance to cover the theory or desire to “debunk” it without evidence stemmed, in large part, from Trump’s alleged record of floating false claims.
J. Stephen Morrison, Center for Strategic and International Studies said in an NPR interview that the theory was dismissed not because of scientific evidence, but because it got grouped in with other “crazy” theories promoted by Trump.
“It got jumbled up together with some of the more crazy aspects of Trump, and scientists recoiled against that and went in favor of the theory that COVID-19 had emerged out of a natural process versus a lab escape.”
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said on CNN the reason the media didn’t take the issue seriously was because Trump and then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “refused to release the evidence” supporting their claim.
Flashback: Fauci dismisses idea Covid originated from the Wuhan virology lab —
“Very qualified evolutionary biologists have said that everything about the step-wise evolution over time strongly indicates that it evolved in nature and then jumped species.” pic.twitter.com/t2q7jBkhKY
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) May 24, 2021
“I think it is important to remember that part of the issue is when this was first being reported on and discussed back a few months after the pandemic had begun, was that then President Trump and Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, suggested they’ve seen evidence that this was formed in a lab and they also suggested that it was not released on purpose. But they refused to release the evidence showing what it was and so because of that made this instantly political.”
