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Around the same time last year, the mainstream media widely dismissed the Wuhan coronavirus laboratory leak theory as a ‘fringe’ or ‘conspiracy’ theory, but with Dr Anthony Fauci becoming the latest figure in Bow to questioning the origins of COVID-19, outlets are increasingly treating it as a serious possibility.
Some examples of how the media reported on the lab leak theory a year ago, when Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Suggested it came from a lab known for its experiments on bat coronaviruses:
“Senator Tom Cotton repeats the marginal theory of the origins of the coronavirus,” wrote The New York Times.
“Trump says the United States is investigating the spread of the coronavirus after the Chinese lab incident, but cites no evidence,” read a USA Today article.
“New research is exploring how conservative media misinformation may have heightened the severity of the pandemic,” the Washington Post wrote.
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There was more where these came from, conservative writer Drew Holden noted in a long thread on the fluctuating tone of the media.
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Politico called the lab leak a “conspiracy theory” before questioning why more research hadn’t been done on the lab experiments, an editorial phenomenon that Holden called “amnesia.”
CNN’s May 5, 2020 headline was perhaps the boldest, stating that Fauci had “crushed” then President Trump’s theory of the lab leak.
“Enter Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and perhaps the most prominent physician in the world right now,” Chris Cillizza wrote at the time. “In an interview with National Geographic published Monday evening, Fauci was adamant about the origins of the virus that has sickened more than a million Americans and killed more than 68,000:
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“If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what is out there now, [the scientific evidence] is very, very strongly leaning towards that could not have been manipulated artificially or deliberately … Anything about the gradual evolution over time strongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then skipped species. “
After quoting the two men, Cillizza added: “Only one of these two people is a world-renowned infectious disease expert. And it’s not Donald Trump.”
But Fauci said over the weekend he was “not convinced” that the coronavirus had developed naturally.
“No actually,” Fauci said. “I’m not convinced of this, I think we should keep investigating what happened in China until we continue to find out to the best of our ability what happened.”
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A new report from the Wall Street Journal which found that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized in November 2019, a month before COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan, as researchers were struck by symptoms similar to those experienced by COVID patients. Holden questioned whether these same outlets would “review” their previous reports, based on current knowledge.
Former New York Times reporter Donald McNeil, who previously viewed the laboratory leak theory with skepticism, wrote last week about the increased plausibility of the leak theory. Josh Rogin of the Washington Post, who reported on State Department cables in 2018 warning of security risks at the Wuhan lab last year, said it was good to see major newsrooms sue the story following the Wall Street Journal report.
“The mainstream media spent a year demonizing the lab leak theory as a senseless conspiracy theory,” journalist Glenn Greenwald tweeted. “The fact checkers said it was wrong. Mainstream outlets are now being forced to admit its viability. Any liability?”
Some leaders, like former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, weren’t so surprised by the news.
Only the Chinese Communist Party “knows who patient zero is,” Pompeo noted Monday on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom.
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Pompeo said he was “convinced” that the evidence would prove the virus had escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan.
“I am confident that we will find the evidence that we have seen to date is consistent with a lab leak,” Pompeo said. “And I’m sure that’s what we’ll see.”
Pompeo observed on Twitter that the media that once wanted to give him a “tin hat” are now “scrambling to side with the truth.”
Republicans in Congress have launched an effort to shed light on the origin of COVID-19, as well as whether U.S. taxpayer dollars funded research into the gain of office at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
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