Montage: Media says COVID China lab leaked theory is a ‘debunked’ ‘conspiracy’
CNN and MSNBC shot down the possibility of COVID-19 originating from a Wuhan lab.
FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver slammed journalists for a "massive error" in labeling the lab-leak discussion "misinformation" on Monday following the Energy Department's conclusion that the coronavirus likely originated in a Chinese lab.
"The reason this drives me up the wall is that if you're ever going to pretend that "misinformation" is a useful category, at least acknowledge it was a massive error to label lab leak discussion as ‘misinformation’ when multiple US government agencies now put the chances ≥50%," he wrote in a tweet.
Silver also reacted to MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan, who said people didn't want to discuss the lab leak theory because it was being pushed by "conspiracy theorists," in another tweet.
"The simple reason why so many people weren’t keen to discuss the ‘lab leak’ *theory* is because it was originally conflated by the right with ‘Chinese bio weapon’ conspiracies and continues to be conflated by the right with anti-Fauci conspiracies. Blame the conspiracy theorists," Hasan wrote in a Twitter thread on Monday.
Members of the World Health Organization team tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease (REUTERS/Thomas Peter)
MEDIA SCOLDED, LAMPOONED FOR DISMISSING NOW-LIKELY COVID LAB LEAK THEORY AS MISINFORMATION
Hasan said the issue itself had been hijacked by "bad faith folks."
Silver said Hasan's response was "refreshingly honest."
"This is so refreshingly honest. The Bad People thought the lab leak might be true, therefore as journalists we couldn't be expected to actually evaluate the evidence for it," he said in response to Hasan's tweet.
Silver also criticized "a certain cadre of scientists" on Sunday for using "every trick in the book to suppress discussion" of the lab-leak theory."
Statistician, Author and Founder of FiveThirtyEight Nate Silver speaks onstage at the ABC Leadership Breakfast panel during Advertising Week 2015 AWXII at the Bryant Park Grill on September 28, 2015, in New York City. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for AWXII) ((Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for AWXII))
"Welp. The behavior of a certain cadre of scientists who used every trick in the book to suppress discussion of this issue is something I'll never forget. A huge disservice to science and public health. They should be profoundly embarrassed," he tweeted.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on Sunday that the Energy Department concluded with "low confidence" that the COVID-19 virus likely originated from an accidental lab leak in China.
A researcher works in a lab at a pharmaceutical in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. (Feature China/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
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The media was criticized in the days following the Journal report over its dismissal of any lab-leak theory discussion.
"The intelligence reporting has led to another media ‘my bad’ moment where news outlets are shrugging that the theory may not be a conspiracy or racist theory after all," Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley tweeted.
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