Then-CNN President Jeff Zucker told his staff not to investigate the “lab leak theory” behind the origin of Covid-19 because he thought it was a “Trump talking point”.
A “well done” CNN insider told Fox News Digital on Monday that Zucker ordered in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic.
“People are slowly waking up from the fog,” the insider told Fox News Digital.
“It’s kind of crazy that we didn’t pursue it harder.”
Mainstream news organizations including CNN, The New York Times, MSNBC, and others have been pilloried in recent days following a recent government report that concluded that an accidental leak from a Chinese laboratory caused Covid. is the most likely explanation for the outbreak.
In the early weeks and months of the pandemic, prominent media figures, public health officials, and elected officials of the Democratic Party dismissed the “lab leak” theory as “debunked”—some suggested even discussing the topic. was racist
The Post has sought comment from CNN and Zucker.
One of Zucker’s charges who followed his boss’s reported orders was Oliver Darcy, the network’s media reporter who wrote an item in the early days of the pandemic titled: “Coronavirus misinformation and conspiracies from friends and family.” Here’s how to eliminate the principles of
“While the coronavirus pandemic has isolated family and friends within their homes, it has in many cases increased communication with loved ones online or over the phone,” Darcy wrote on March 28, 2020.
“But, in some cases, relatives and friends share bad information — whether it’s bad science related to how to stop the virus, refuting rumors about cities being locked down, or conspiracy theories about the origin of Covid-19. ,” he wrote. .
“While no amount of misinformation is ideal, misinformation related to a public health crisis has a particularly dangerous element to it.”
Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN’s “Faried Zakaria GPS,” said during a broadcast that “the far right has now found its virus conspiracy theory” when discussing the lab leak.
Last week, Tom Elliott, an independent journalist, posted a Twitter thread showing clips of MSNBC and CNN personalities dismissing the possibility of a lab leak as a “conspiracy theory.”
Under Zucker’s watch, CNN became the news network that took the most hostile stance toward then-President Donald Trump.
During news conferences, Trump famously clashed with CNN reporters, particularly Jim Acosta, the combative White House reporter.
Last year, Zucker was forced to resign as president of CNN after it was revealed that he had been carrying on a consensual, years-long relationship with its top marketing officer, Alison Golst.
Zucker has been replaced by Chris Licht, who was given a mandate by his bosses at corporate giant Warner Bros. Discovery to steer the network away from partisan commentary and toward straight-down-the-middle news reporting.
