I think that a *major* contributor to lab leak narratives has been editors and reporters' conviction that they were being bold, investigative contrarians - which has led to some extremely shaky decisions based on very little or no evidence.
@BeijingPalmer did @propublica ever follow up with their story?
@Wilson__Valdez @propublica Statement today and a very bad one
@BeijingPalmer @Wilson__Valdez @propublica Who are you?
@scotub @BeijingPalmer @Wilson__Valdez @propublica He is deputy editor of rag that ran risibly bad commentary by Worobey and Rasmeussen in September.
@R_H_Ebright @scotub @BeijingPalmer @Wilson__Valdez @propublica I didn't realize how closed-minded they were. I gave them the benefit of the doubt & assumed an honest misunderstanding or perhaps they were just unaware of key evidence and reasoning, but holy smokes.
@R_H_Ebright @BeijingPalmer @Wilson__Valdez @propublica Wow, never been blocked for asking who someone is before. Probably the most hilarious one yet.
@R_H_Ebright @scotub @Wilson__Valdez @propublica Ah, the good faith I've come to expect from you people. Bye.
@R_H_Ebright @scotub @Wilson__Valdez @propublica I'm an expert on China who lived there for 15 years and can actually understand Chinese government documents instead of putting forward childish fantasies about them.
@R_H_Ebright @scotub @BeijingPalmer @Wilson__Valdez @propublica Seems like a lot of these guys are blinded by their politics. Tribalism
@R_H_Ebright @scotub @BeijingPalmer @Wilson__Valdez @propublica A piece that was also very dishonest in its own right as I have discussed on Twitter repeatedly.