Former ABC Journalist Makes A Serious Claim
Former ABC News journalist Terry Moran made a serious claim during an appearance on “The Fifth Column” podcast. Moran said that while he was still at ABC News in early 2021, he worked on a story about the possibility that COVID-19 came from a lab leak. According to Moran, the story was set for ABC’s “Nightline,” but when it came back after review, it had been changed so much that he called it “incomprehensible.” He described the moment as feeling the “heavy hand of censorship” at the Disney-owned network. That is not a small charge, especially when you remember how aggressively the lab leak theory was treated at the time. Back then, even asking the question could get people treated like they had committed a thought crime, which is always a great sign for a free society, right?
What Moran Says Was In The Report
Moran said he had seen “smart and serious” people discussing the lab leak possibility online, and ABC allowed him to pursue the story. He said he spoke with scientists and Trump administration officials, and that the report did not claim to prove the lab leak theory. Instead, he said it “laid it out.” Moran also said the piece broke “a little news” that the lab had been funded by the Chinese military, despite Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli, known as the “Bat Lady,” saying it had not. Moran said his own personal view at the time was that a natural origin was probably “a little bit more likely,” but he also said that if someone told him it had leaked from the lab, he would accept that as possible. In other words, the report, as he described it, sounded like journalism doing what journalism is supposed to do: ask questions, gather facts, and let viewers think for themselves.
The Part That Should Raise Eyebrows
Moran said that on the day the report was supposed to air, it was reviewed and then returned to him in a form he could not use. Podcast co-host Michael Moynihan asked if lawyers were involved. Moran answered, “Lawyers, standards and, I was told, Fauci.” Moran said he told them, “I can’t do this,” and described himself as “cursing and screaming” in the booth as the program was heading toward air. To be clear, Moran’s claim does not prove that Anthony Fauci personally ordered ABC to spike or rewrite the story. But it does raise an obvious question: why would Fauci’s name be connected to the review of a news report at ABC? If a powerful public health official had any role in shaping coverage about a theory his critics were already being punished for discussing, that deserves daylight, not another round of institutional throat-clearing.
Watch The Clip
Questions ABC And Fauci Should Answer
This story leaves several important questions on the table. Who at ABC told Moran that Fauci was involved? What, if anything, did Fauci say or do regarding the report? Who changed the piece, and why? Why did this not become a public controversy when it happened? Moran could be asked to explain the episode under oath, and ABC leaders involved at the time could be asked the same. The public was told to “trust the science” while major questions about COVID origins were being shoved into the forbidden zone. If Moran’s account is accurate, the issue is not just one shelved or altered TV segment. It is whether Americans were denied a fair hearing on one of the biggest public health questions of our time.
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