On April 5, 2020, prominent Italian virologist Roberto Burioni noted on Twitter that an article by Amber Athey on The Spectator (archived here on Archive.org) was claiming in its headline that “Italy gave China PPE to help with coronavirus — then China made them buy it back” and included statements such as the following:
After COVID-19 made its way to Italy, decimating the country’s significant elderly population, China told the world it would donate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to help Italy stop its spread. Reports later indicated that China had actually sold, not donated, the PPE to Italy. A senior Trump administration official tells The Spectator that it is much worse than that: China forced Italy to buy back the PPE supply that it gave to China during the initial coronavirus outbreak.
‘Before the virus hit Europe, Italy sent tons of PPE to China to help China protect its own population,’ the administration official explained. ‘China then has sent Italian PPE back to Italy — some of it, not even all of it … and charged them for it.’
I answered his tweet (in Italian, below) by noting that The Spectator had published conspiracy theories such as “coronavirus was created in a lab” with pro-Trump, anti-media tones. I also recommended to be doubtful of the story unless it received strong corroboration.
Spectator è un sito che pubblica tesi complottiste tipo "coronavirus creato in laboratorio" (https://t.co/4LnJNse8VH) con toni politici anti-media e pro-Trump. Io ne dubiterei fino a (robusta) prova contraria.— Paolo Attivissimo (@disinformatico) April 5, 2020
I also noted that Athey’s article used the classic method of surrounding the (unproven) allegation with links to apparently related news items from reliable sources.
Notare la tecnica classica di circondare l'accusa (non provata) con link a notizie apparentemente affini da siti di buona reputazione.— Paolo Attivissimo (@disinformatico) April 5, 2020
Ma l'accusa è portata solo da una specifica frase di fonte anonima.
I then remarked that the source of the core claim was an unspecified “senior Trump administration official” and that no other corroborating evidence was provided. I then noted that Amber Athey had made some very questionable anti-Semitic tweets.
la fonte è "A senior Trump administration official" non identificato, che "tells The Spectator that it is much worse than that: China forced Italy to buy back the PPE supply that it gave to China during the initial coronavirus outbreak."— Paolo Attivissimo (@disinformatico) April 5, 2020
Prove a supporto? Zero.
A parte questo, salvo omonimie Amber Athey è il tipo di persona che twitta antisemitismi come questi: https://t.co/XBFJaxNmQA pic.twitter.com/6q7vtevEra— Paolo Attivissimo (@disinformatico) April 5, 2020
The anti-Semitic tweets I’m referring to are these (as acknowledged by Athey). Due to their content, I refuse to transcribe them and I will only include them as a screenshot:
I also noted that Athey has been a contributor to Tucker Carlson’s The Daily Caller:
Athey ha scritto per The Daily Caller, di Tucker Carlson (Fox News) https://t.co/pn8XJQFu7F— Paolo Attivissimo (@disinformatico) April 5, 2020
Tucker Carlson is one of the faces of Fox News, which for a long time denied that the pandemic could be a danger, went along with President Trump’s denialism and then made a spectacular about-face when the number of the dead tragically began to rise. Here’s an example.
I suggested that Athey could be contacted via her Twitter account, which I did:
La si può contattare qui per chiederle le prove di quello che dice: https://t.co/Wj47t049fe— Paolo Attivissimo (@disinformatico) April 5, 2020
Cosa che ho appena fatto.
— Paolo Attivissimo (@disinformatico) April 5, 2020
Naturally I didn’t ask her to reveal the name of her source. Amber Athey replied as follows (and later deleted her tweets):
Hello, Paolo. I was told this has been reported in foreign media but have been unable to find it, as I’m not very familiar with that landscape. Perhaps you’ll have better luck. The admin official who told me this is in a position that would make them very familiar with these ...— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) April 5, 2020
Screenshot:
... exchanges, which is why I felt comfortable running what they told me. Want to clear up a couple of things you said in your thread linking people here ...— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) April 5, 2020
Screenshot:
... if you actually read this article it does NOT theorize that the virus was created in a lab. Rather, as a top scientist who has been quoted by WaPo said, that it could’ve been LEAKED from a lab that researches zoonotic viruses.https://t.co/ts3Kp02zrL https://t.co/bl1exmHgNT— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) April 5, 2020
Screenshot:
Thank you, but it seems to me that "created in a lab" and "leaked from a lab" are essentially the same allegation, differing only in intentionality. They both blame China.— Paolo Attivissimo (@disinformatico) April 5, 2020
Finally, I would submit to you that a poor taste in jokes when i was in high school (I was 17 in 2012) have nothing to do with my current credibility or reporting capabilities and have no place in this discussionhttps://t.co/ts3Kp02zrL— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) April 5, 2020
Screenshot:
Thanks for reaching out, I’m usually happy to help. Although smearing myself and the Spectator with lies before doing so makes me far less inclined to assist. Have a great day.— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) April 5, 2020
Screenshot:
Am I correct in understanding that you have no corroborating evidence other than the words of an unspecified "admin official" and that you were "told this has been reported in foreign media but have been unable to find it"?— Paolo Attivissimo (@disinformatico) April 5, 2020
Isn't that a bit weak for such a serious allegation?
Please don't get me wrong: if you have evidence, I'll accept it, no matter what. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, of which so far I've seen none.— Paolo Attivissimo (@disinformatico) April 5, 2020
I haven’t heard from her since.
In summary: Athey stated that she was told that the story had been told in “foreign media” (i.e., her article is based on third-hand news), but that she was unable to find these foreign media sources. She then alleged that I had written “lies” about her and The Spectator (I didn’t).
But ultimately there is only one basic fact: to date, The Spectator has no hard evidence to back up its allegation.
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