[Gatestone] The attempt to whip up anti-Americanism appears to be an effort by the German government to blunt public criticism of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her cabinet for their lackadaisical response to the coronavirus epidemic.
The story was quickly picked up and uncritically disseminated by print and broadcast media throughout Europe ‐ and America. Nearly all quoted the Die Welt article verbatim without confirming the story on their own.
"To make it clear again on coronavirus: CureVac has not received from the US government or related entities an offer before, during and since the Task Force meeting in the White House on March 2. CureVac rejects all allegations from press." ‐ Statement by CureVac, March 16, 2020.
U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell denied the allega tions. "Not true," he tweeted. "The Welt story was wrong. But Business Insider, Reuters and others went with it anyway despite not having their own sources. Now everyone is back peddling."
The newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine, in an article titled, "CureVac Has Not Received an Offer from the U.S. Government," described the Welt article as "Fake News" concocted by CureVac in order to secure government funding. The paper suggested that the German government helped to promote the lie...
"A German minister, who heard from another German minister, that a German journalist, who was not there, reported that the U.S. president offered $1 billion for a company that has not yet developed a vaccine against COVID-19.... For my taste, much hearsay, the striving of Die Welt for many clicks, the fueling of resentment against Trump and perhaps intelligent marketing by the company for public funding in times of the corona crisis." ‐ Reader comment in Die Welt, March 17, 2020. |