All three morning shows on Thursday were given interview time with CDC Director Doctor Rochelle Walensky, yet only ABC’s Good Morning America bothered to commit journalism and ask about the possibility that the coronavirus originated in a Wuhan lab. NBC’s Today and CBS This Morning skipped the awkward subject of whether the media has been wrong for a year in dismissing the idea as nonsense.
Instead of talking about a plausible explanation of Covid’s origin, This Morning’s Gayle King wasted time with an embarrassing question about the government injecting people with a “chip.”
I'm almost embarrassed to ask you this, but on TikTok there's a video going around right now, have you seen it? Somebody did it -- put the coin on your arm, if it stays there, it means that -- that there's a chip in your arm. It's a big thing that's going on TikTok right now. Can you put that to rest and say how ridiculous it is? That we are not being injected with chips --
The CDC Director patiently responded, “We are not being injected with chips. What we're being injected with is this incredible scientific breakthrough that keeps us safe and is effective against something that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans over the last 15 months.”
CBS This Morning had 7 minutes and 5 seconds with the CDC director and a lab leak of Covid never came up. NBC’s Today talked to Walensky for 4 minutes and 56 seconds with no allowance for the topic.
Only Good Morning America, in a short 3 minute and 49 second segment, highlighted this important topic. Cecilia Vega asked, “Dr. Walensky, I want to ask about one more thing. The President ordered this U.S. intelligence agencies to investigate the origins of the coronavirus. Does the administration now believe that this could have been leaked from a lab in Wuhan?” She followed up: “Is it a possibility it may have originated in this lab?” (See the transcript for Walensky’s answers.)
In total, the networks were given 15 minutes and 50 seconds with the CDC head, yet only 51 seconds on ABC were about the virus’s origin. No one’s saying the coronavirus did originate in a lab. But it now seems like a possibility. It’s almost as if journalists don’t want to know the answer to this question.
The crackpot "chip" theory on CBS was sponsored by Toyota. On NBC’s Today, the ignoring of the lab theory was sponsored by Jeep. Click on the links to let them know what you think.
Partial transcripts are below. Click “expand” to read more.
Good Morning America
6/3/2021
7:09CECILIA VEGA: Dr. Walensky, I want to ask about one more thing. The President ordered this U.S. Intelligence agencies to investigate the origins of the coronavirus. Does the administration now believe that this could have been leaked from a lab in Wuhan?
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY: I think the administration now believes that it's really important to understand the origin of this. Certainly we know that most coronaviruses when they enter into human disease have come from animal sources, but I think it's really important now to understand where this came from and to — so we can prevent further epidemics, pandemic like this in the future.
VEGA: Is it a possibility it may have originated in this lab?
WALENSKY: I think we know -- we have seen in the initial W.H.O. Report there are numerous possibilities as to where it originated and the important thing is to collaborate as a globe to understand its origin.
CBS This Morning
6/3/2021
7:06
GAYLE KING: The Biden administration is calling June the month of action. June is normally weddings, graduations, father's day. Now month of action, they're saying “people get your vaccine. And we just heard in Weijia’s piece all the incentives being offered. Anything from doughnuts, which by the way I did claim, guns, alcohol, sports tickets, free day care. Do you think all — what do you think of all these incentives, number one? And two, do you think they're working?
...
KING: Should companies require their employees who are coming back to work be vaccinated?
...
KING: I'm almost embarrassed to ask you this, but on Tiktok there's a video going around right now, have you seen it? Somebody did it -- put the coin on your arm, if it stays there, it means that -- that there's a chip in your arm. It's a big thing that's going on Tiktok right now. Can you put that to rest and say how ridiculous it is? That we are not being injected with chips --
ROCHELLE WALENSKY (CDC Director): We are not being injected with chips. What we're being injected with is this incredible scientific breakthrough that keeps us safe and is effective against something that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans over the last 15 months.
