BROADCASTS.com

On March 17th, at least 17 major news outlets published a story claiming a group of scientists had analyzed new genetic data from Chinese and that data linked raccoon dogs at the Huanan Seafood Market to the origin of COVID-19. At best, it was journalistic misfeasance, at worst it was willful misdirection. At the time \u201craccoon dog mediapalooza\u201d dominated the news cycle, there was no data, no preprint, nor peer reviewed paper available for independent examination of the scientist\u2019s claims. \u201cRaccoon dog mediapalooza\u201d was based on \u201cquotes\u201d from \u201cthe usual suspects\u201d; a cabal of virologists that have misstated, distorted, and/or overstated the evidence pointing to a natural spillover since the beginning of the pandemic. Today, I interview veteran journalist Mike Balter for the insider\u2019s perspective of the mainstream media coverage of the investigation of the origin of COVID-19 since the beginning. Their over-reliance on \u201cthe usual suspects\u201d a small group of virologists with clear self interest in the outcome of an investigation into the origin of COVID-19. Mike has been a working journalist for more than four decades and wrote for Science Magazine for 25 of those years. It\u2019s a long interview but filled with many profound insights.