Today in @DisInfoChron, journalist @thackerpd takes out after a piece by @paldhous in @BuzzFeed about the role played by a small, little-known animal rights group in the debate over Covid-19 origins. disinformationchronicle.substack.com/p/buzzfeed-tak…
The debate centers on two main competing scenarios: That SARS-CoV-2 transferred to humans from an animal host, or that it leaked from a lab, specifically the Wuhan Inst of Virology, and then infected humans. The lab-leak hypothesis encompasses both genetically…
Engineered viruses and unaltered viruses that may have been cultured in the lab. Although Thacker is pretty harsh, I have to agree that Aldhous and BuzzFeed have pretty much manufactured a scenario that is not accurate: The idea that the lab-leak hypothesis has become…
Widespread because it was favored by right-wing politicians and Donald Trump himself. That is untrue. In reality, the lab-leak hypothesis was pretty successfully squelched, and branded a “conspiracy theory,” until some real scientists with PhDs began to argue that…
There was no direct evidence for either hypothesis and that we had to investigate them both. The watershed was a letter in Science, signed by a number of respected scientists, that made just that point: science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
Only when real scientists with real PhDs said that the lab-leak hypothesis was plausible and could not be ruled out did the news #media—including science journalists—begin to give reluctant coverage to the the idea. It was no longer possible to brand it a conspiracy…
Theory, although a number of scientists and science journalists have continued to do so, either directly or by implication. As Thacker points out by citing their Tweets, science writers who can be counted on to jump on any suggestion that right-wingers are really behind…
The lab-leak theory include @amymaxmen of @Nature and @sciencecohen of @ScienceMagazine. While I don’t agree with everything Thacker says (I usually forgive his biting tone, which is often well deserved), I agree with him that this is a low point for science #journalism.
One question I have is why @aldhous and @buzzfeed, a reporter and publication for whom I have great respect (I have known Peter since the 1990s, worked with him for a time, and admire his great #MeToo reporting), felt the need to use what has to be seen as...
inaccurate (at best) or dishonest (at worst) framing of the lab-leak hypothesis and its origins, as well as the legitimate scientific debate over Covid-19 origins, thus playing directly into the "conspiracy theory" slander constantly used to try to suppress debate...
On such an important question. Many readers may go away convinced that the lab-leak hypothesis is simply a right-wing thing and leave it at that. The irony is that when it comes to Covid-19 origins, the fears of liberal scientists and journalists that...
any finger-pointing at China could foster anti-Asian racism or fuel the right's agenda has become a self-fulfilling prophecy: Right-wingers are able to pose as champions of science and brand their opponents as anti-science!
One last thing: I agree with @thackerpd that science journalists are very reluctant to engage in any kind of self-reflection or self-criticism of what they do. This is particularly true at @ScienceMagazine and @Nature which are flagships of science journalism and...
should be leading the kind of self-examination that is going on in political #journalism in the wake of the Trump presidency. #media

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More from @mbalter

May 11
I had an interesting exchange with @MichaelWorobey today about the Covid-19 origins debate, in which he suggested that having a beer and talking might help to cool down passions which are clearly running high. I told him I would welcome having that beer and that…
We need to figure out why the debate, which ultimately is a scientific (epidemiological) question, has become so acrimonious. I also told him that I am neutral on the core issue of whether the lab-leak or natural origins hypotheses are correct, because I think there…
Is no real direct evidence for either scenario (including his own recent preprint on the distribution of cases in the Wuhan seafood market.) As I have said many times, I have been astonished and aghast at the behavior of many scientists and science journalists…
Read 21 tweets
May 9
ICYMI: Can we stop the next pandemic by seeking out deadly viruses in the wild? [A very good and timely piece. I think it's one thing to monitor viruses that could pass over from animals to humans, and another to manipulate them...
vox.com/future-perfect…
Genetically in the lab, which both Chinese and U.S. scientists have done--especially if these manipulations make the viruses more dangerous to humans, so-called "gain of function work." And despite many millions spent on such programs, we were not able to avoid...
a pandemic that has now killed at least 6 million people around the world and probably many more. As @Ayjchan and others have pointed out, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has its origins in animals, probably bats, and how it got into humans is kind of a detail. Did it transfer...
Read 8 tweets
Nov 13, 2021
It's extraordinary that the Editor-in-Chief of @sciencemagazine, @hholdenthorp, would write such a biased editorial about a legitimate scientific debate, and one that would show either ignorance of facts, dishonesty about facts, or both. #coronavirus science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
To continue to refer to those who are not satisfied with the natural origins hypothesis for Covid-19 origins, who include leading scientists and science journaists, as "conspiracy theorists" is truly slanderous and not at all in the scientific spirit.
To state that the "virus is almost certainly of zoonotic origin" is to state something that is not scientifically demonstrated, and to pretend evidence exists that does not. Neither hypothesis has any kind of smoking gun evidence behind it.
Read 8 tweets
Nov 12, 2021
ICYMI: The settlement in the $18 million defamation suit Danielle Kurin filed against me for my truthful reporting on her misconduct is now null and void, but the lawsuit itself has been dismissed with prejudice. Kurin now has bigger problems. michael-balter.blogspot.com/2021/10/metoo-…
Will the Santa Barbara County Sheriff charge Kurin with violating the CA Health and Safety Code for failing to report her finding of human remains for 2 months? michael-balter.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-st…
By violating the agreement we had come to, in which I made a major concession to her in exchange for publication of a document that showed my reporting was right, Kurin has badly damaged her own interests, something she does habitually. This story is far from over.
Read 13 tweets
Sep 20, 2021
I recorded last night's special by @drsanjaygupta on the origins of Covid-19 and I am going to watch it shortly. I will Tweet any thoughts I think might be of interest on this story I have been following and commenting on [eg, michaelbalter.substack.com/p/once-upon-a-…] #coronavirus
Good to see @drsanjaygupta mentioning the early obstruction by Chinese officials which has set the stage for pretty much everything that followed in this controversy.
Also good to point out Daszak’s conflicts of interest early, and the importance of the Lancet letter in Feb 2020. That also set the stage, the “political tone” as their reporter says.
Read 22 tweets
Jul 9, 2021
Science journalists have done a great service by telling the public when the science is "settled," eg around climate change, the theory of evolution, etc. Those are areas in which there is a real scientific consensus. They do a disservice when they become advocates...
for one side or the other of a debate in which the science is not settled and there is no consensus. We are seeing way too much of that with the lab-leak hypothesis, in some cases outright cheerleading by science journalists and loose use of the term "conspiracy theory."
I taught science #journalism to grad students at two major universities for a number of years, and while we dissected false notions of "objectivity" we never said it was okay to become advocates for positions that have very little evidence either way. The pendulum...
Read 5 tweets

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