Looks like the Washington Post is engaging in a bit of self-reflection after all:<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/the-media-called-the-lab-leak-story-a-conspiracy-theory-now-its-prompted-corrections--and-serious-new-reporting/2021/06/10/c93972e6-c7b2-11eb-a11b-6c6191ccd599_story.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/the-media-cal...</a><p>They even recently changed their headline from a February 2020 article, "Tom Cotton keeps repeating a coronavirus conspiracy theory that was already debunked," to "Tom Cotton keeps repeating a coronavirus fringe theory that scientists have disputed," although the page title is still "Tom Cotton repeats debunked conspiracy theory" as of June 22.<p>Here's another take on the strange media pivot that we are observing:<p>"With President Trump out of office, it should be possible to reject his xenophobic agenda and still ask why, in all places in the world, did the outbreak begin in the city with a laboratory housing one of the world’s most extensive collection of bat viruses, doing some of the most aggressive research?"<p><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/the-lab-leak-theory-inside-the-fight-to-uncover-covid-19s-origins" rel="nofollow">https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/the-lab-leak-theory-...</a><p>Or perhaps more damningly:<p>"It is not too early to grapple with the failures of the media, which reflect the wider struggles of trying to fairly convey the truth in an atmosphere deformed by misinformation. Rather than meet lies with truth, the media often met it with other lies."<p><a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/05/lab-leak-liberal-media-theory-china-wuhan-lab-cotton-trump.html" rel="nofollow">https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/05/lab-leak-liberal-med...</a><p>On a related note, I remember reading a blog post from David Relman (I think? though it could have been someone else from Stanford) early in the pandemic which discussed the lab leak possibility. I haven't been able to find the original post since then however.