So I think it's time for a thread.

This was very frustrating to watch develop in real-time. The media overwhelmingly dismissed very real possibilities as conspiracy theories and helped China avoid real questions about the origin. https://twitter.com/peterjhasson/status/1245878484884492299

Senator Tom Cotton raised an early alarm about China's dishonesty. He pointed out they were clearly lying about several elements and suggested we need to investigate the origin. He never claimed it was a bio-weapon, but instead did point out there the Wuhan lab was near source.

The press universally condemned him as spreading conspiracy theories by changing his actual claims.

Washington Post: "Tom Cotton keeps repeating a coronavirus conspiracy theory that was already debunked" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/16/tom-cotton-coronavirus-conspiracy/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wp_main

Notice they dismiss the possibility of it originating at the lab as a conspiracy that has been "repeatedly debunked by experts"

Then they cited the expert who just said it may have originated in that lab rebutting a completely different claim.

WaPo was hardly alone. Outlets like the New York Times and Daily Beast spread the same false claims.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/sen-tom-cotton-flogs-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-dismissed-by-actual-scientists
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/17/business/media/coronavirus-tom-cotton-china.html

Then outlets like CBS News actually embarrassingly quoted the Chinese ambassador to dismiss Cotton's legitimate questions as conspiracies.

https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1226540067805650944

Other media personalities were quick to join the smears against Cotton, thereby helping China dismiss legitimate questions about the early origin as just conspiracy theories.

All these tweets are still up. No retractions or apologies.

Here are some more calling him irresponsible, dangerous, and comparing him to crackpots who accused the CIA of inventing AIDS.

And before people claim they couldn't have known at the time, that same expert they were using to "debunk" a false version of Cotton's question was telling people back then that it was a real possibility. https://twitter.com/BrianColas7/status/1229929761473998848

There was also plenty of evidence that should lead people to ask questions. That lab specifically specialized in studying Coronaviruses. In 2015, they created a hybrid virus that combined a SARS virus and bat coronavirus. China had previous incidents of SARS virus escaping labs.

In February, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology released a new directive titled: “Instructions on strengthening biosecurity management in microbiology labs that handle advanced viruses like the novel coronavirus.”

https://nypost.com/2020/02/22/dont-buy-chinas-story-the-coronavirus-may-have-leaked-from-a-lab/

And now the Washington Post publishes a piece acknowledging the possibility of something they were calling a crazy debunked conspiracy theory a few months ago...

When will they issue their apology to @SenTomCotton?

https://twitter.com/joshrogin/status/1246053512267661312?s=21 https://twitter.com/joshrogin/status/1246053512267661312