The Washington Post and CNBC tried to wokescold Twitter owner Elon Musk for advancing the Wuhan COVID-19 lab leak theory. The outlets attempted to achieve this by pushing … Communist Chinese state propaganda.
The Post, owned by liberal billionaire Jeff Bezos, published a Feb. 28 story with a nutty headline that set the tone for the ludicrous argument: “Chinese state media calls out Elon Musk over coronavirus tweet.” The Post referred to Musk’s response to a tweet alleging that former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci funded gain-of-function virus research in Wuhan. “He did it via a pass-through organization (EcoHealth),” Musk tweeted in response.
The Post flexed the faux virtue-signaling of none other than the Chinese Communist Party-tied Global Times to rebuke Musk in its sub-headline: “Global Times newspaper criticizes Musk for advancing a ‘conspiracy theory’ about the virus’s origin.”
CNBC’s Feb. 28 headline promoting the communist propaganda needs no explanation: “China’s CCP warns Elon Musk against sharing Wuhan lab leak report.”
He did it via a pass-through organization (EcoHealth)
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 26, 2023
The Global Times is the same communist outlet that threatened Taiwan and Australia by calling them “cannon fodder” on Twitter in 2021. But CNBC’s Squawk Box apparently didn’t see the issue in regurgitating Global Times’ threats to Musk during its Feb. 28 show.
Apparently, Musk touched on a “sensitive” issue, according to CNBC Beijing Bureau Chief Eunice Yoon. What a joke.
China expert Gordon Chang blasted CNBC for acting like a CCP mouthpiece. "#China’s regime uses its power over foreign businesses to get them to support its propaganda narratives, many of which undermine #America," Chang said in a Feb. 28 tweet. "It’s time to take away this leverage by prohibiting our companies from continuing to do business there."
#China’s regime uses its power over foreign businesses to get them to support its propaganda narratives, many of which undermine #America. It’s time to take away this leverage by prohibiting our companies from continuing to do business there. #elon_musk #CCP https://t.co/iWH2GYAWK5
— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) February 28, 2023
What’s worse is that both The Post and CNBC even acknowledged that the Global Times was a state-backed outlet. Here was The Post’s spin, which might as well have come from the office of China’s dictator Xi Jinping:
The Global Times, a state-backed newspaper known for its hawkish takes on U.S.-China relations, posted an essay on social media this week criticizing Musk for advancing a ‘conspiracy theory’ about the coronavirus. ‘At the same time, these remarks of his have been continuously used by those US right-wing and anti-China media hostile to China as material to frame China,’ the publication wrote.
Both the U.S. Energy Department and FBI Director Christopher Wray are on record admitting that the COVID-19 virus “most likely” originated out of a Wuhan lab leak. But that didn’t stop CNBC from trying to downplay the lab leak theory and make it seem like Musk was out of order for implying its viability:
Chinese state-run media warned Tesla CEO Elon Musk that he was risking his relationship with China after he retweeted about the U.S. government’s 'low-confidence' assessment that the Covid pandemic originated in a Wuhan laboratory.
The Post promoting Chinese state propaganda is disturbingly not a new development. The Post has a checkered past of publishing drivel from another CCP-backed outlet, China Daily before it severed ties following political backlash. But that hasn’t stopped China Daily from continuing to flaunt its relationship with The Post on its website.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact The Washington Post at 202-334-6000 and CNBC at cnbcnewspr@nbcuni.com.
