Taxpayer-funded National Public Radio is still peddling the line that the COVID-19 lab leak theory is just a “fringe view,” despite mountains of evidence and shifting government stances suggesting otherwise. The media watchdog group Media Research Center is calling them out, labeling NPR’s stubbornness “embarrassing.”
Even After Ridicule, Embarrassing NPR Pretends COVID 'Lab Leak' Is Fringe View https://t.co/jzz54mnpTk
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) April 22, 2025
Remember back in April 2020? NPR confidently reported that scientists had totally “debunked” the idea that the virus might have slipped out of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. They pushed the narrative that it definitely, absolutely jumped from animals to humans naturally.
Fast forward to today, and that narrative looks shakier than ever. Even though the US intelligence community remains officially divided on the virus’s origin after a mandated declassification effort, the lab leak possibility is taken far more seriously across the board. Agencies and experts who once dismissed it are now openly considering it.
But not NPR, apparently. According to the MRC, the network seems stuck in 2020, ignoring the growing evidence and the fact that even the White House has previously highlighted NPR’s biggest COVID reporting blunders, including their early dismissal of the lab leak.
While China continues to blast the lab leak theory as a “ridiculous” conspiracy, NPR’s refusal to update its reporting or acknowledge the legitimacy of the questions surrounding Wuhan makes it look less like objective journalism and more like narrative protection. The MRC rightly points out that clinging to the “fringe view” angle just doesn’t hold water anymore.
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