Taxpayer-funded NPR helped hoodwink the nation by dismissing the COVID lab leak theory in 2020 and pushing the mainstream narrative that assured the virus’ origins were natural.
The theory that COVID originated from a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology has now been embraced by FBI Director Christopher Wray, and a bombshell report recently indicated that the U.S. Energy Department believes the virus likely started at the lab. But NPR, which is partially federally funded, rejected the theory with even more fervor than much of the mainstream media.
In April 2020, NPR ran pieces on back-to-back days dismissing the lab leak notion, painting it as a debunked conspiracy theory embraced by the right for political purposes.
The first poorly aged story featured a blunt headline, "Scientists Debunk Lab Accident Theory of Pandemic Emergence," that misled readers into thinking the lab leak theory was truly discredited.
"Scientists dismiss the idea that the coronavirus pandemic was caused by the accident in a lab. They believe the close interactions of people with wildlife worldwide are a far more likely culprit," NPR senior correspondent Geoff Brumfiel wrote to introduce the published transcript of a segment that aired on radio.
"From the beginning of the coronavirus, scientists worldwide agree that the virus occurred naturally - that it made its way from animal to a human like SARS and MERS did. But the Trump administration has been raising the possibility that a lab accident in China could be behind the start of the coronavirus," host Ailsa Chang said.
Brumfiel joined Chang to discuss the lab leak theory and quickly claimed it was "kind of on thin ice" despite being embraced by the Trump administration.
Brumfiel insisted scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology are "super careful" and typically work with "dead" viruses "under a biocontainment hood, wearing masks and gloves."
Chang asked, "OK, so I get how an accident sounds super unlikely, but do we even know if the lab in Wuhan followed these protocols that you're describing right now?"
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Brumfiel continued to push back against the notion the COVID pandemic could have started in the lab.
"Until all this went down, that lab was working really closely with U.S. researchers. We know this is how they work. Now, of course, this doesn't completely prove there wasn't an accident. But when you put it all together, the scientists I spoke to say think of it this way. You've got a car wreck 50 feet from a telephone pole. The fender is wrapped around the pole, and you're investigating whether the car was struck by lightning," Brumfiel said before citing Peter Daszak, whose nonprofit funded coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology for years.
Daszak's organization sent $3.4 million in National Institutes of Health grants to the Wuhan lab between 2014 and 2019, according to the Wall Street Journal, but his involvement with it didn't prevent him from playing a key role in early media dismissals of the lab-leak idea. He was cited by many media outlets when downplaying the lab leak theory.
Daszak told NPR that tourists often visit China’s bat-filled caves without protective hazmat suits. "A natural crossover really looks most likely here," Brumfiel said to wrap up the radio segment.
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NPR did not issue a correction, editor’s note or clarification to the online version of this story as of March 2, 2023.
But that wasn’t the only time NPR misled Americans on the lab leak theory. The following day, Brumfiel penned a print piece that doubled down on his support of the mainstream narrative.
The follow-up piece, "Virus Researchers Cast Doubt on Theory of Coronavirus Lab Accident," essentially told readers the idea was balderdash.
"Virus researchers say there is virtually no chance that the new coronavirus was released as result of a laboratory accident in China or anywhere else," Brumfiel wrote.
"The assessment, made by more than half-a-dozen scientists familiar with lab accidents and how research on coronaviruses is conducted, casts doubt on recent claims that a mistake may have unleashed the coronavirus on the world," Brumfiel continued. "The accident theory has been advanced by the Trump administration in recent weeks."
Brumfiel declared that after speaking to 10 scientists, "NPR found that an accidental release would have required a remarkable series of coincidences and deviations from well-established experimental protocol."
NPR’s senior correspondent then cited Daszak, who called it a conspiracy theory by "policymakers."
NPR’s second anti-lab leak story hasn’t been corrected or updated in the wake of new information, either.
"They were, in retrospect, entirely wrong, but memoryholed these pieces," Free Beacon journalist Drew Holden wrote in a lengthy Twitter thread exposing the way the lab leak theory was initially covered.
While the lab leak theory has been embraced by government agencies, and many liberal news organizations have been forced to issue embarrassing correction, NPR continues to downplay the news.
On Feb. 28 following a bombshell Wall Street report that the Department of Energy believes the virus likely started at the lab, NPR covered the story with a headline, "U.S. Dept of Energy says with 'low confidence' that COVID may have leaked from a lab."
The report focused on the "low confidence" tidbit and the opening paragraph declared "the scientific evidence overwhelmingly points to a natural origin for the virus."
When Wray told Fox News’ Bret Baier this week in an exclusive interview that the "FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan," NPR made sure to downplay his comments in the lead paragraph.
"The FBI's assessment is not the consensus among intelligence and scientific communities," NPR reported.
NPR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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The true origins of COVID-19 remain unknown, and the debate over whether its origins were natural or man-made may never be settled, in part due to China's obfuscation.
Fox News’ David Rutz contributed to this report.
