The media's COVID success

No doubt you already know that the mainstream media messed up, because mainstream media outlets are falling all over each other to tell you. As The Bulwark’s Jonathan Last notes, “At this point, we’ve probably had more media self-criticism than actual pieces making the faulty declaration against the lab-leak theory.” You could draw two different conclusions from all this. One is a Trump-style conclusion: “Wow, the media had to retract a huge story about the coronavirus. What about all the other phony stories they do? FAKE NEWS!” This is the conclusion that rapidly became conventional wisdom, even in the mainstream media. Or you could reach a different conclusion: The original error (if it proves to be an error—still unclear) was regrettable but understandable, and what we are seeing is a praiseworthy example of error correction and accountability—something we need more of, not less. The second conclusion is the right one.