In September 2020, Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a virologist and former postdoctoral fellow at the University of Hong Kong, told Fox News "I can present solid scientific evidence to our audience that this virus, COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 virus, actually is not from nature. It is a man-made virus created in the lab." PolitiFact gave her a “pants on fire rating.” Now it, like other outlets, is changing its tune. Quote:
“When this fact-check was first published in September 2020,” the group said this week in an editor’s note, “PolitiFact’s sources included researchers who asserted the SARS-CoV-2 virus could not have been manipulated. That assertion is now more widely disputed.”
The note adds, “For that reason, we are removing this fact-check from our database pending a more thorough review. Currently, we consider the claim to be unsupported by evidence and in dispute.”
The original fact-check is still available on PolitiFact’s website for, as the group says, “transparency and archival purposes.”
The editor’s note fails to explain why, exactly, they chose to believe their sources over others. What hard evidence did PolitiFact’s sources provide that led them to believe Dr. Yan was indisputably wrong? Not even a little wrong — "pants on fire" wrong.
For that matter, what evidence did the Washington Post have when it accused Cotton of pushing a “conspiracy theory”?
