Despite China being responsible for mass death around the globe because of their Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News spent part of their Tuesday airtime cheering for the end of the Wuhan, China lockdown. NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel went so far as to protect the communist regime and suggest there were mere “accusations” they were “fudging” numbers.
“Where it all began in Wuhan, China. Today, the government lifted its quarantines after more than 10 weeks of complete lockdown,” Engel praised, as he translated for a woman who was excited to eat noodles again. He didn’t seem too bothered when he reported how “…authorities closely track residents using an app.”
Engel then celebrated China’s dubious claims of no new deaths from the virus, before downplaying the facts against them. “Although, there are accusations China has been fudging the numbers, it reported for the first time no new virus deaths,” he touted.
From there, he started to compare Europe’s handling of the crisis to China’s and remarked on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson being admitted to the ICU the previous day. On Monday, Engel had mocked the irony of how Johnson had once said he wasn’t going to stop shaking hands a couple of weeks before contracting the virus.
Over on CBS, anchor Norah O’Donnell simply praised the lifting of the lockdown at the outbreak’s epicenter:
Tonight, an encouraging sign in Wuhan, China, the city where the coronavirus outbreak began. The lockdown there is being lifted after nearly three months as new cases have dwindled. Today, swat teams and workers in hazmat suits patrolled train stations. They're expected a flood of travelers Wednesday when people are finally allowed to leave town.
Noting that cases had “dwindled,” seemed to leave the door open to acknowledging China’s manipulation of the data.
Previously, CBS had defended China by laughably claiming China had “attacked” the virus. It was an exercise in spreading Chinese Communist Party propaganda. It’s interesting that O’Donnell allowed China to give off an “encouraging sign” since CBS had refused to allow President Trump to be hopeful for America.
NBC Nightly News, via White House correspondent Peter Alexander, had once claimed the President was being “racist” for accurately noting the virus had come from Wuhan, China. They decried how Trump would call it the “Wuhan Virus” or the “Chinese Coronavirus,” while, at the same time, China had launched a propaganda campaign to claim the virus had started in the U.S.
It kind of showed who the liberal media were looking out for.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening News
April 7, 2020
6:49:13 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: Tonight, an encouraging sign in Wuhan, China, the city where the coronavirus outbreak began. The lockdown there is being lifted after nearly three months as new cases have dwindled. Today, swat teams and workers in hazmat suits patrolled train stations. They're expected a flood of travelers Wednesday when people are finally allowed to leave town.
NBC Nightly News
April 7, 2020
7:14:56 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: As the coronavirus spreads in the U.S., China today lifted the lockdown in Wuhan where the virus first emerged, while in the U.K., Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains in the ICU. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
[Cuts to video]
RICHARD ENGEL: Where it all began in Wuhan, China. Today, the government lifted its quarantines after more than 10 weeks of complete lockdown.
"I haven't had noodles for two months," said this woman. "They taste even better."
But authorities closely track residents using an app. Although, there are accusations China has been fudging the numbers, it reported for the first time no new virus deaths.
(…)
