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Recent Coverage of Lab Leak Theory Was Driven by Right-Wing Media

by Noah Carl
8 September 2021 8:46 AM

In a recent article, I noted that many left-wing commentators are still reluctant to concede that Covid might have escaped from a lab. Why? It’s not because the lab leak theory is ‘racist’, or that it makes China – America’s ‘enemy’ – look good.

Rather, it’s because the theory makes ‘experts’ look bad, and – more importantly – makes the right look good. After all, right-wing Republicans have been claiming that a lab leak was possible since early last year. (At the time of course, they were denounced as ‘conspiracy theorists’.)

Donald Trump entertained the theory in April of 2020. If evidence eventually proves him right, the man’s critics (of whom there are plenty in the mainstream media) will have a lot of egg on their face.

While my article relied on anecdotal reports of the left’s dislike for the lab leak, a new study confirms that recent coverage of the theory has been driven by right-wing media.

David Rozado tracked media coverage by counting the number of times relevant terms (‘lab leak’, ‘laboratory leak’ etc.) were mentioned in 12 media outlets. He then computed, for each week since the start of 2021, total mentions as a percentage of all words published that week. This was done separately for each of the 12 outlets.

Rozado’s main figure is shown below. Each colour corresponds to a different outlet: turquoise is Fox News; faded green is the New York Post; grey is the Wall Street Journal; and orange is the Washington Post – the only left-leaning outlet that has covered the lab leak extensively. (For further details, see p. 8 of Rozado’s paper.)

The chart confirms that media coverage of the lab leak was all but absent until May of 2021, when it rose dramatically. A disproportionate share of the recent coverage is accounted for by just two right-wing outlets: Fox News and the New York Post.

In an attempt to explain the trend in media coverage over time, Rozado superimposed lines corresponding to certain key events, such as the publication of the WHO’s report on its visit to Wuhan.

Noting that the coloured bars start to get taller after the publication of Nicholas Wade’s essay on May 5th, Rozado notes “this particular event could have triggered increased media coverage of the lab-leak hypothesis”.

However, it seems more likely that an event on May 14th is what triggered the increased media coverage, namely the publication of a letter in Science signed by 18 experts, calling for a new investigation into the origins of Covid. “Theories of accidental release from a lab and zoonotic spillover both remain viable,” the letter said.

Whichever event or events led to the rise in media coverage, Rozado’s paper provides a valuable insight into the media’s coverage of the pandemic. And it’s worth reading in full.

Tags: Donald TrumpLab leakThe media

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46 Comments
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Tom Blackburn
Tom Blackburn
3 years ago

https://www.foxnews.com/media/rand-paul-shreds-fauci-for-allegedly-lying-dozens-of-times-over-covid-19.amp

8
0
Catee
Catee
3 years ago
Reply to  Tom Blackburn

I’m hoping he gets successfully prosecuted, he’s such a weasel I think he would ‘sing’ like canary. However I suspect the two most likely scenarios will be a failure to successfully prosecute due to a ‘bought’ judiciary or Dr Fauci may just succumb to covid.

Last edited 3 years ago by Catee
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0
Jon Mors
Jon Mors
3 years ago
Reply to  Catee

Or ‘suicide’ from a bullet wound to the back of the head.

More seriously, even if this is taken further a milque-toast resolution is inevitable. Absolute best case scenario would be a resignation. If he had any sense he’d resign now, but people like him are too hubristic for this.

3
0
mwhite
mwhite
3 years ago
Reply to  Tom Blackburn

Sky News Australia, right from the beginning

Taxpayer funded experiments in Chinese labs ‘far more extensive’ than first thought – YouTube

Paid for by the American tax payer.

0
0
186NO
186NO
3 years ago
Reply to  mwhite

So was/is Dr David Martin, right the way back to 2000 and beyond.

0
0
186NO
186NO
3 years ago
Reply to  Tom Blackburn

I await the next edition of the Highwire – DB must think Fauci is the gift that keeps on giving…

Last edited 3 years ago by 186NO
0
0
Major Panic in the jabby jabbys
Major Panic in the jabby jabbys
3 years ago

If a group of people base their theories on what ever is the opposite of what there ‘enemys’ theories are, ignoring inconvenient reality or evidence, surely that is a cult – people with these thought processes can not be persuaded with logic as they are illogical.

8
0
Mark
Mark
3 years ago
Reply to  Major Panic in the jabby jabbys

Broadly it’s the US “Orange Man Bad” cult that has driven a lot of the most disastrous events of the past 18 months, at least as they’ve manifested within the US sphere.

Now they are having to look around for other things to blame, to divert attention from the obviously senile, corrupt incompetence of the cipher they appointed to replace the Orange Man.

15
0
Sandra Barwick
Sandra Barwick
3 years ago
Reply to  Mark

Much worse than that. They are devoted to a Marxist agenda with levels of ruthless control shared with Fascism.

7
0
Sandra Barwick
Sandra Barwick
3 years ago

Wrong headline. “Left wing media ignore “lab leak” evidence”

19
0
FrankFisher
FrankFisher
3 years ago
Reply to  Sandra Barwick

Not just ignore, actively colluding with social media to suppress via censorship, and sneer via “fact checking” that is nothing of the sort

17
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Nigel Sherratt
Nigel Sherratt
3 years ago

China is not the enemy of the Overclass the 0.1% who who make fortunes from collaborating with the transnational criminal organisation the CCP. Biden is a bought and paid for lackey of the Overclass. MSM outfits are their ‘lickspittle capitalist running dogs’.

6
0
kaya3
kaya3
3 years ago
Reply to  Nigel Sherratt

This is one of the best videos you will see relative to the topic. This is all about the implosion of the financial industry that should have happened 11 years or more ago.

https://odysee.com/@LongXXvids:c/Ernst-Wolf-speech—summary:3

1
0
FrankFisher
FrankFisher
3 years ago

“right wing” = “not actively stalinist”

14
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PhantomOfLiberty
PhantomOfLiberty
3 years ago

The evidence for a lab-leak is overwhelming but left leaning sources are much more likely to cover it up. I didn’t realise till today that the Daily Sceptic discounted right-wing sources, on the basis of being right wing. What’s going on? 900 pages of data implicating Fauci in Wuhan gain of function experiments were released yesterday – this is not left or right wing information, it is just information, so why isn’t the Daily Sceptic covering it? The Daily Sceptic presents itself as a refuge against left wing “woke” politics so who is Noah Carl trying to impress? This is one of the oddest articles I have ever read: it might even seem odd in the Guardian.

Last edited 3 years ago by PhantomOfLiberty
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RickH
RickH
3 years ago

Mickey mouse analysis : “the left’s dislike for the lab leak”.

The right didn’t like it much either, and in fact the worn-out political definitions don’t work in any of this. The underlying problem for Covid proponents is that it puts human agency centre stage in this ‘terrifying’ phenomenon. Much better if totally unpredictable, and naturally induced at random.

Of course, identifying US Democrats as ‘left’ in any meaningful sense is also nonsense – they are part of the corporate duality.

Last edited 3 years ago by RickH
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-5
Moist Von Lipwig
Moist Von Lipwig
3 years ago
Reply to  RickH

They are extremely left and state intervention in the economy is always leftist, no matter who the recipient is.

4
-2
RW
RW
3 years ago
Reply to  Moist Von Lipwig

Congratulations. You’ve just defined the Europe of absolute monarchy and a lot of common economic practice up to 1945 as leftist (whatever). Eg, agricultural protectionism to support the landed gentry.

Last edited 3 years ago by RW
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-2
Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  RickH

Are republicans “left wing” – or does it depend what country they’re in?

0
0
CynicalRealist
CynicalRealist
3 years ago

Even if it is true (which seems fairly likely), chances are there will never be any actual confirmation one way or the other – to many people (including governments) have too much to lose to allow it.

3
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PhantomOfLiberty
PhantomOfLiberty
3 years ago
Reply to  CynicalRealist

The evidence is already overwhelming – thousands of pages of it. The fact that governments and even the Daily Sceptic are playing cat and mouse over admitting it has nothing to do with “confirmation”, the documents exist confirming it and the cover up, which for some reason the Sceptic seems to be participating in.

5
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GlassHalfFull
GlassHalfFull
3 years ago

“Theories of accidental release from a lab and zoonotic spillover both remain viable,” the letter said.
There is a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest a third theory that rogue elements of the US deliberately released the virus to harm China and Iran and didn’t realize it would spread around the world.
https://www.unz.com/runz/american-pravda-the-covid-epidemic-as-lab-leak-or-biowarfare/

1
-1
Dodgy Geezer
Dodgy Geezer
3 years ago
Reply to  GlassHalfFull

You would thing that it would be highly unlikely that they would not realise that it would spread to them. However, given their earlier experience with producing weaponised computer viruses, I can certainly see how they might ignore it…

1
-1
Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  GlassHalfFull

Why on Earth wo wouldn’t they realise it would spread round the world? I thought that’s what viruses do in these interconnected times (though admittedly there were Chinese in Britain over a thousand years ago).

1
-2
GlassHalfFull
GlassHalfFull
3 years ago
Reply to  Hugh

They assumed it would be similar to SARS and mostly stay at the point of first infection.

0
-1
186NO
186NO
3 years ago
Reply to  GlassHalfFull

Nope, it was deliberate:

This is another “bombshell” moment folks and Messr Daszak and Fauci would appear to be in very deep shit….

“Surprise Surprise – Fauci Lied Again”: Rand Paul Reacts To Wuhan Bombshell | ZeroHedge

0
0
Skeptical_Stu
Skeptical_Stu
3 years ago
Reply to  GlassHalfFull

Or a 4th theory that the virus was deliberately ‘leaked’ with the full knowledge it would indeed spread around the world.

The way the whole affair has been handled has given rise to many wealthy vested interests making great gains from this:

Big Pharma (Obviously)
The banks (Money printing)
Big Business (decimation of small businesses)
Big government (massive power grabs)
The Democrats (rigged election)

You can also foresee a Chinese style credit system making its way here, and globally in the West. Cashless society etc.

Perhaps it is all about control, because that is exactly what it feels like. A mass psychosis has been blanketed on the public using fear as the main driver. The governments, media and the people all ignore real world data and focus on the fearmongering. And that has been done for a reason. It certainly isn’t for as something as pathetic as SARS-CoV2.

1
0
PhantomOfLiberty
PhantomOfLiberty
3 years ago

WHY DOESN’T THE DAILY SCEPTIC ADDRESS THE MASSIVE BODY OF EVIDENCE RELATING TO FAUCI, GAIN OF FUNCTION EXPERIMENTATION AND THE WUHAN LAB, INSTEAD OF PRODUCING THIS NONSENSE FROM NZ WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY NOT WORTH READING IN FULL???

8
0
186NO
186NO
3 years ago
Reply to  PhantomOfLiberty

Long thought TY & co should provide links to this evidence ……very very difficult for Fauci and by association all those named in these and other emails to avoid investigation: Drosten, Zhengli, Farrar, Vallance ( YEP VALLANCE) Daszak..but then if the “Judiciary” are onside it won’t happen this side of civil war.

0
0
Jon Mors
Jon Mors
3 years ago

I think the DS should ask itself what the average Guardian reader would assume about the content of the article, based on the headline. It is all to obvious that they would assume that the lab leak theory was a conspiracy theory, and that it was being promulgated by right wing media like the Telegraph (lol).

“Left wing media suppress lab leak evidence. Conservative leaning media does not”. There you go, fixed it for you. That might even work for the average Tory voter.

4
0
Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  Jon Mors

The Telegraph that was a Liberal party supporting newspaper until it fell out with them over Turkey (or was it Ireland?) and now supports the liberal “not the Conservative party”?

I think the Morning Post was a bit more right of centre, though I’m not sure how it ended up when the Telegraph took over (Lord Deedes worked for both papers).

1
0
Manjushri
Manjushri
3 years ago

Thats so funny to think of this military grade pathogen being deployed from a bat lab in China….a brilliant red-herring cover story 😊

1
-1
Dodgy Geezer
Dodgy Geezer
3 years ago

…….the man’s critics (of whom there are plenty in the mainstream media) ……..

…the man’s critics (who ARE the mainstream media) ….

There. Fixed that for you…

0
0
Skeptical_Stu
Skeptical_Stu
3 years ago

Personally, I think the ‘lab leak theory’ is the acceptable ‘conspiracy theory’.

This has been too well planned, with many many vested interested making gains on it for it to be an accidental leak. I am not disputing the game of function research etc, but this is most certainly deliberate.

2
0
PhantomOfLiberty
PhantomOfLiberty
3 years ago
Reply to  Skeptical_Stu

Good point

0
0
186NO
186NO
3 years ago
Reply to  Skeptical_Stu

US labs at BSL 4 were stopped doing, for a while, GoF research in/around 2014; Wuhan lab finished with French lab assistance in …late 2014, with BSL2,3 and 4 capacity.

Leaks have happened before; agree GoF is a sustained deliberate tranche of research and US /China ( UK to at P.Down) regarding Coronaviruses back to 1990and before ( Follow the Patent trail set out by Dr David Martin ….very damning).

Fauci has lied serially about GoF before, during and after the US moratorium. Dr Martin has very clearly stated that he has supplied US Intelligence agencies with his information from 2000 or so onwards. Why have “they ” not acted on it – how has this man been allowed to continue “in post” when he has questions to answer about HIV/AIDS/Remdesivir…?

0
0
Pavlov Bellwether
Pavlov Bellwether
3 years ago

My first hearing of this ‘theory’ was from a respected pharmacologist who had the information direct from the ‘source’. All else is theatre and piffle. The law is still on our side. The truth will win. The liars will be held to account. Fight back on an individual level. Others will follow. Useful information, resources and links: https://www.LCAHub.org/

6
0
Pavlov Bellwether
Pavlov Bellwether
3 years ago
Reply to  Pavlov Bellwether

The theory I heard was approximately 18 months ago by the way… at the very start of this masquerade…

2
0
PhantomOfLiberty
PhantomOfLiberty
3 years ago
Reply to  Pavlov Bellwether

Yes, Fauci called a meeting 1 February 2020 with Farrar and others, notably Patrick Vallance, to discuss how they were going to dispel the rumours. This article still seems to be doing it: a sociologist’s manoeuvre – instead of checking the evidence for the story you categorise the kind of people who believe it.

1
0
186NO
186NO
3 years ago
Reply to  PhantomOfLiberty

How many times has Vallance confirmed he has an ethical Conflict of Interest due to his prior knowledge and therefore involvement in GoF, chimerically derived SARS COV2 ….

0
0
tom171uk
tom171uk
3 years ago

Four legs good. Two legs bad. Masks good. No masks bad. (Have you seen the pathetic sheep on the opposition benches in their ludicrous masks?)

They don’t think for themselves. The groupthink says that Trump is bad, everything he has ever said is bad, ipso facto non-Trump equals good. You can’t reason with nut jobs.

0
0
kaya3
kaya3
3 years ago

So left wing Intercept now releasing documents apparently showing Fauci lied? Is the bus coming and are they getting ready to throw him?

https://nypost.com/2021/09/07/wuhan-lab-documents-show-fauci-untruthful-about-research-critics/

0
0
Health Seeker
Health Seeker
3 years ago

It’s also worth noting that the zoonotic hypothesis suits those promoting eco-conciousness, as it the highlights the possibility that increasing encroachment on wildlife habitats may increase the spread of pathogens.

0
0
gedhurst
gedhurst
3 years ago

Look up ‘Trusted News Initiative’. Left leaning news outlets have banded together to agree not to report stuff which goes against the Fauci/CDC/Big Pharma narrative.

1
0
number 6
number 6
3 years ago

Ah!!!! The first politically active Virus. Will it succeed to get Trump back in the White House?

0
-1
Shirespeed
Shirespeed
3 years ago

Read this then tell me it wasn’t a lab leak.
https://nicholaswade.medium.com/origin-of-covid-following-the-clues-6f03564c038

Last edited 3 years ago by Shirespeed
1
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