Metzl: Mainstream Media Approach to Lab Leak Was ‘Lazy’ and Dangerous Approach of Just Opposing the Other Tribe

On Friday’s broadcast of CNN International’s “Amanpour,” Jamie Metzl, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, stated that regarding the origins of the coronavirus, “the mainstream media has gotten into this habit that I think has gotten a little lazy” of assuming that all What President Trump has said is a lie and “If we all become mirror images of the opposition, we are in danger and our democracy is in danger.”

Metzl stated, “I’m a progressive Democrat. I’ve been a vocal critic of President Trump. I wasn’t entirely happy and vocal with a lot of what President Trump did and said, and I didn’t quite trust his motives. But as a thinking person, I didn’t think the appropriate response to that was The feeling is, well, if Trump says something, I need to say and believe the opposite.”

He added, “I also think the mainstream media got into this habit that I think got a little lazy about, well, Trump says something, and then we have a fact-check story that says, This is what Trump said, that’s why he’s lying, and we’ll add this to the list.” Which the Washington Post and others have kept tens of thousands of outright lies about. But even a broken clock is appropriate twice a day. In my view, President Trump, in a totally inappropriate way and maybe even then, said something that was probably true. And he said it in a terrible way. And that’s why I think this tribalism in how we think, how we process information, how we provide formation, is really dangerous, because if we all become mirror images of the opposition, we’re in danger and our democracy is in danger.”