Donald G. McNeil Jr.

More about her. "Also, Dr. Shi was trained by Ralph S. Baric of the University of North Carolina in building “chimera” viruses — taking, for example, the spike protein from a new virus and splicing it to the backbone of a known one like SARS. He invented “no-see-um” techniques that left no trace of the splice." source https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-… https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8119695_Development_of_mouse_…

Here’s the best explanation I’ve found: “How I learned to stop worrying and love the lab leak theory.” https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-… Edit: part of the issue is “what is a lab leak?” It’s not a bio weapon, or a failed vaccine. The respectable “lab leak theory” is that the virus was identified in the wild, brought into a lab, but safety procedures were not followed. So it’s not a “Chinese created virus” theory. It’s a “someone wasn’t following proper procedures” theory.

The link should probably be to the specific URL for the referenced article rather than the author's overall Medium page. https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-…

Also, Dr. Shi was trained by Ralph S. Baric of the University of North Carolina in building “chimera” viruses — taking, for example, the spike protein from a new virus and splicing it to the backbone of a known one like SARS. He invented “no-see-um” techniques that left no trace of the splice. From https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-…

From the reporter fired by the NYT following an unflattering daily beast, albeit full of apparent fabrications, story[1]: “. ..But we’re still jackals. We can befriend you for years, and then bite off your arm just as you’re offering us a treat. We can’t help it. It’s the nature of the job. At the highest levels, like Watergate, it’s about digging for the truth, no matter what corrupt government official it hurts. At the basest level, when even the crummiest scandal erupts, you have to repeat the accusation, even if you know it’s untrue or half-true, in order to explain the truth — no matter how much you may personally like the source you’re hurting.” [1] https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-part-one-in…

It's an interesting question because there has been a dominant narrative that back when there were only 3 channels and everyone trusted what Walter Cronkite said there was a lot more consensus. That was true in the sense that centre-left and centre-right points of view were expressed on all networks (by law because of the fairness doctrine), also because the cold war gave a broad framework for crafting a consensus within, consolidation of newspapers left only 1 or 2 major newspapers in most markets, and because the two parties were each much more ideologically diverse. There was a consensus, but it bounced around the centre, and on topics where there were large disagreements usually you could still count on people to at least be able to articulate the countering sides' views and why someone might hold them. There was a greater appetite for trying to figure out an issue by hearing the best arguments from the other side (watch old episodes of Firing Line on YouTube to get an idea of how it was). When climate change first became an issue in the late eighties there were a wide range of opinions on it, even though people had no more expertise on the subject than they do now. But people had less confidence that their views were right and people with contrasting views were deplorable or had a secret agenda. Even in early naughts Gingrich and Pelosi did a commercial together about how it was an important issue [0], even though there were pro-growth republicans who didn't want to…

You can read McNeil's perspective: https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-part-one-in… No one reasonable thinks he made a racist remark.

Part 2: https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-part-two-wh… Part 3: https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-part-three-… Part 4: https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-part-four-w…

Part 2: https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-part-two-wh… Part 3: https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-part-three-… Part 4: https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-part-four-w… The referenced story: https://www.thedailybeast.com/star-new-york-times-reporter-donald-mcne… (Thanks djoldman and qnsi.)