A New York Times science reporter who focuses on Covid-19 has suggested that merely discussing the Wuhan lab leak idea is “racist.”
The lab leak issue has gotten a lot of attention since Biden’s administration announced a 90-day probe, notably from the New York Times, which stated that the US intelligence community has been sitting on a “raft” of evidence relating to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
But Apoorva Mandavilli, who says she reports for the New York Times “mainly” on COVID in her bio, claimed in a tweet that merely discussing the matter was “racist.”
“Someday we will stop talking about the lab leak theory and maybe even admit its racist roots. But alas, that day is not yet here,” tweeted Mandavilli.
She faced immediate pushback and subsequently deleted the tweet.
“It damages the NYT’s reputation to have a key reporter on the most important story of the year say a valid news angle shouldn’t be discussed because it has “racist roots.” Aren’t they supposed to be in the news business?” asked Josh Barro.
“Oh my god: I didn’t realize what her job is,” remarked investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald. “Can someone explain to me why it’s racist to wonder if a virus escaped from a Chinese lab, but it’s not racist to insist that it infected humans because of Chinese wet markets? If anything, isn’t the latter more racist?” he asked.
For nearly a year, President Donald Trump was repeatedly smeared as a racist by the media merely for pointing out that the virus originated in China.
The World Health Organization also advised countries not to impose border controls in the early weeks of the pandemic so as to avoid the “stigmatization” of Chinese people.
