Chinese Virologist post report claiming virus made in Wuhan lab

"How the Liberal Media Dismissed the Lab-Leak Theory and Smeared Its Supporters":

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/202...edia-theory-china-wuhan-lab-cotton-trump.html

excerpt:

Many mainstream journalists, though not all, dismissed the lab-leak hypothesis out of hand as a conspiracy theory. In part, they were deceived by some especially voluble public-health experts. In part, they simply took Donald Trump’s bait, answering the former president’s dissembling with false certainty of their own.

It is not too early to grapple with the failures of the media, which reflect the wider struggles of trying to fairly convey the truth in an atmosphere deformed by misinformation. Rather than meet lies with truth, the media often met it with other lies.
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more at the link

 

The Chinese virologist is going on Indian TV saying it was a bioattack against India..... doesn't really help her case.

 

She got nothing to lose apparently

 

Matt Yglesias:

"The media's lab leak fiasco: A huge ****up, with perhaps not-so-huge policy stakes"

https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-medias-lab-leak-fiasco

excerpt:

I hope the prior zillion words establish that I’m not trying to be an apologist for the bad media coverage of this issue. But there is a difference between a factual controversy where a change in facts affects people’s views and a factual controversy that is mostly about raising or lowering the status of different people and arguments. And this, I think, is a case of the latter. Evidence in favor of leak theory lowers the status of the media and raises the status of Tom Cotton but doesn’t drastically alter the policy landscape.

The perils of Twitter
Beyond the gross irresponsibility of the earliest media coverage, I think the story of Dr. Chan and her struggle to be heard illustrates the perils of expert dialogue on social media.

Social media is truly social in the sense that it features incredible pressures to form in-groups and out-groups and then to conform to your in-group. Unless you like and admire Cotton and Pompeo and want to be known to the world as a follower of Cotton-Pompeo Thought, it is not very compelling to speak up in favor of a minority viewpoint among scientists. Why spend your day in nasty fights on Twitter when you could be doing science? Then if you secure your impression of what “the scientists” think about something from scanning Twitter, you will perceive a consensus that is not really there. If something is a 70-30 issue but the 30 are keeping their heads down, it can look like a 98-2 issue.

I do not know a lot about science, so I will not opine how generally true this may or may not be.

But in economics, which I do know well, I think it’s a big issue. If someone tweets something you agree with, it is easy to bless it with an RT or a little heart. To take issue with it is to start a fight. And conversely, it’s much more pleasant to do a tweet that is greeted with lots of RTs and little hearts rather than one that starts fights. So I know from talking to econ PhD-havers that almost everyone is disproportionately avoiding statements they believe to be locally unpopular in their community. There is just more disagreement and dissension than you would know unless you took the time to reach out to people and speak to them in a more relaxed way.

My strong suspicion is that this is true across domains of expertise, and is creating a lot of bubbles of fake consensus that can become very misleading. And I don’t have a solution.
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more at the link

 

Yea I'm not sure how calling the lab leak a conspiracy materially hurt anything.... say compared to the lie about the stolen election.

 

things might get uncomfortable for the NYT

 

That would be an odd thing.... if I were connecting the virologist with India or Mexico in the comment you replied to.

It's just amusing, in light of the insurrectionist conservatives and their media blatantly trying to cover up Jan 6, that they get to be smug about the media getting something wrong.

 

Yep.... conservatives taking a victory lap. It's just funny.

 

It's not funny but sad that this was even considered a "conspiracy theory."

 

I agree. But again, what does this materially effect? Not much, just some folks taking a smug victory lap. Did it effect the US government and intelligence from anything? No.

The cover up by media regarding Jan 6 is far more impactful than this since election rules are being changed and Trump sympathizers being put in charge of state's election.

 

I wish her the best of luck getting out the truth. China has a habit of disappearing doctors.

I wish her the best of luck getting out the truth. China has a habit of disappearing doctors.

I wish her the best of luck getting out the truth. China has a habit of disappearing doctors.

 

Weird comment.... with all your threads that've you started... you clearly have a lot of time on your hands to soak up daytime TV. Some 99ers take retirement better than others it seems....