When even the Washington Post says it’s bad…
A Washington Post columnist has eviscerated an NBC “investigative” report on the Wuhan Institute of Virology, that did nothing but provide a platform for scientists there to complain they were being made scapegoats over the coronavirus pandemic.
Josh Rogin noted that NBC’s powder puff coverage contained basic factual errors and even mistruths from the scientists interviewed, that received zero pushback from the network.
The NBC story says that U.S. officials "said they observed" serious safety issues at the lab. That's just wrong. The officials reported the Wuhan Institute of Virology scientists TOLD THEM about the safety issues. https://t.co/kgwc21YwBP There's more…
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) August 10, 2020
Rogin continued his analysis, noting that NBC inadvertently revealed that Wang Yanyi, director of the WIV, was bending the truth beyond recognition:
“Yanyi told NBC reporters the U.S. officials visited in March 2018, two months after the first cable was written. The truth is they visited three times, both before and after the Jan. 2018 cable. Did U.S. officials make an entire visit? Not likely..” Rogin wrote.
“That calls into question Wang’s credibility. She also says biosafety was not discussed. Again, calling several U.S. diplomats fabricators? NBC reports that without any pushback.” Rogin added.
The columnist also called out the network for suggesting it couldn’t find any evidence that the coronavirus could have originated there.
“The NBC reporters toured the lab, as if that would tell them anything. What did they expect to find, a piece of paper they forgot to throw out that says “Coronavirus Origin Evidence”? It’s absurd to think that has any probative value.” Rogin urged.
He also noted that NBC falsely suggested that Dr Fauci “discounted the idea that the virus had accidentally escaped from a lab,” and that comments made by disease ecology expert Peter Daszak are questionable given he has a direct conflict of interest, and appears to be warping logic:
The NBC report says that Fauci "discounted the idea that the virus had accidentally escaped from a lab." If you read the interview, Fauci said its not important if it was a lab accident (which is wrong) but not that he rules out the possibility. https://t.co/h5HB1teyzX
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) August 10, 2020
“U.S. news organizations must do better than presenting a walk around a lab and an interview with falsehoods in it as telling us anything about the virus.” Rogin asserted.
He also explained why properly investigating the lab matters:
The actual origin story is critically important scientifically to understanding how the outbreak started and therefore how to fight it and how to prevent the next one. Should we spend our time shutting down wet markets or stopping risky bat research? Get it?
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) August 10, 2020
When even the Washington Post calls out fake news, you know it must be bad!
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