National security experts criticize media and scientists for prematurely ending the debate on the origins of COVID-19

EXCLUSIVE: On Wednesday, a panel of national security experts signed a letter accusing major news outlets and academic journals, including The New York Times and The Lancet, of censoring those who disagree with the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and urging those outlets to investigate their journalistic failures.

The letter to “editors, authors and contributors” of The Lancet, Nature Medicine, The New York Times and Time accused the journals of stifling debate about the origin of the virus. It was signed by 43 national security experts, including Rep. Michael McCall, R-Texas, the new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, among others.

The letter cited a May 2021 Fox News Digital report on a Times reporter who claimed that the “lab leak theory” or the theory that the virus originated from a Wuhan Institute of Virology lab leak in Wuhan, China is “racist in nature”. “. roots.”

“Leading scientific journals censored dissenters; many science writers at major news outlets promoted narratives or asserted conclusions that were not supported by evidence; the reporters made no even superficial attempts to identify potential conflicts of interest of their sources,” the letter says. “This has hindered national and international policy discussions on how to mitigate the effects of future pandemics of any origin – natural, accidental or deliberate.”

Robert O’Brien, former national security adviser, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas on Saturday, July 10, 2021.
(Photographer: Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

LANCET ARTICLE CALLS FOR “AN OBJECTIVE, OPEN AND TRANSPARENT DISCUSSION” ON THE ORIGINS OF COVID-19

The letter was coordinated by the Vandenberg Coalition, which she described as “an impartial organization committed to advancing U.S. national security and putting politics before politics.”

The 43 signatories call on the four named publications to “investigate these failures, hold those responsible accountable, and rededicate themselves to the founding ideals of their craft, which must include impartiality and a commitment to evidence-based investigation.”

“We also call on major news organizations around the world to conduct a deeper investigation into the origins of the pandemic, in particular by examining all credible origin hypotheses, and encourage scientific journals to explore how the debate on the origins of the pandemic can be more open and balanced,” the letter says. to read.

“An impartial search for truth is the cornerstone of responsible science and journalism,” he continued. “At a time when social media apps are fueling uncivilized, hyperpartisan, and unbalanced public speaking, it is even more important that reporters and editors strive for balance, assert their independence, and resist partisanship and peer pressure. This standard should apply to media of all backgrounds and persuasions. Meeting these standards can help prevent similar or worse pandemics in the future.”

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Wednesday’s letter provided several examples to back up his arguments, including when The Lancet published a controversial article at the start of the pandemic in February 2020, in which 27 experts said: “Together we strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 not be of natural origin.

The February 2020 letter came under scrutiny after one of its authors, Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance and then member of The Lancet commission charged with investigating the causes of the pandemic, failed to disclose EcoHealth’s relationship with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and later he refused to work on the order of The Lancet.

Peter Daszak (right), Thea Fisher (left) and other members of the World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus arrive at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province February 3, 2021.
(Photo by HEKTOR RETAMALA/AFP via Getty Images)

Security personnel stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan as members of the World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus visit the institute in Wuhan, in China’s central Hubei province, February 3, 2021.

Andrew Huff, former vice president of the EcoHealth Alliance and author of The Truth About Wuhan: How I Uncovered the Biggest Lie in History, has since urged Republicans to “start a full investigation” into the origins of COVID-19 and the role his former organization had.

Huff told Fox News Digital last month that “the US government funded the feature work, it was poorly managed between the EcoHealth Alliance and NIH, and that feature work was used to develop SARS-COV2.”

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Huff said he contacted Senator Ron Johnson, D-W, and the Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, suggesting he would be ready to testify in the new Republican-controlled House.

On Monday, House Republicans passed a package of rules that included the creation of a Special Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic to investigate the origins of the virus.