Uh oh. CNN said the words the network has declared are off limits.
On Friday, the State Department summoned the Chinese Ambassador to the United States as the Chinese government ramps up its propaganda efforts to blame the coronavirus on the U.S. military. CNN's Kylie Atwood joined Inside Politics host John King and, over the course of the segment, referred to COVID-19 as the Wuhan Virus, a term the media has recently decided to be racist and xenophobic.
After King introduced gave the audience a brief rundown of the conspiracy theory, he went to Atwood at the State Department. Atwood reported that, "The Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. was summoned here to the State Department by a top State Department official for the region, Assistant Secretary Stilwell, I have been told by folks in this building that they are furious with the Chinese government."
Atwood then said the words that the media has decided you aren't allowed to say, "That’s because as you said John, they are now claiming that potentially the U.S. military could be to blame for the Wuhan Virus originated which originated as we know in Wuhan, China."
She then reported that contrary to President Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo being racists, this was just the latest effort by American officials to correct the record, "We have seen the U.S. push back on that disinformation, Secretary of State Pompeo even called it the Wuhan Virus just last week to make sure that folks knew where the epicenter of this virus really is and we also heard President Trump earlier this week calling it a foreign virus. They want to make the case that this originated in China and that's the reason that they summoned the Chinese Ambassador here to the State Department today."
Obviously, Atwood is not an anti-Chinese racist, but hopefully her reporting will lead her colleagues in the media to focus more on the initial Chinese coverup and not their propaganda that referring to COVID-19 as "the Wuhan Virus" is somehow racist.
Here is a transcript for the March 13 show:
CNN
Inside Politics
12:16 PM ET
JOHN KING: As we wait for that, a prominent Chinese official now promoting a conspiracy theory. Get this: the Chinese official suggesting the United States military could have brought the coronavirus to China and that it did not originate in the city of Wuhan, like it is widely thought. This is the latest of part of a Chinese campaign—propaganda—to question the origin of the pandemic which has infected more than 130,000 people now around the world. CNN’s Kylie Atwood joins me now live. Kylie, you are learning this is creating serious tension now between the United States and China.
KYLIE ATWOOD: Yeah, and a new development in these tensions just today. The Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. was summoned here to the State Department by a top State Department official for the region, Assistant Secretary Stilwell, I have been told by folks in this building that they are furious with the Chinese government. That’s because as you said John, they are now claiming that potentially the U.S. military could be to blame for the Wuhan Virus originated which originated as we know in Wuhan, China. We have seen the U.S. push back on that disinformation, Secretary of State Pompeo even called it the Wuhan Virus just last week to make sure that folks knew where the epicenter of this virus really is and we also heard President Trump earlier this week calling it a foreign virus. They want to make the case that this originated in China and that's the reason that they summoned the Chinese Ambassador here to the State Department today. We are still waiting for more details with regards to what that conversation looked like, but there are growing tensions between the U.S.—the Trump Administration—and the Chinese government over where this virus originated.
