The media called the ‘lab leak’ story a ‘conspiracy theory.’ Now it’s prompted corrections — and serious new reporting.

Early last year, New York Times science writer Donald G. McNeil Jr. reported on a controversial theory about the coronavirus that had begun to sweep around the planet: That it may have started in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, not as a random and naturally occurring pathogen.

The “lab-leak” theory — disputed then as now — challenged the semiofficial thesis that the virus had jumped from an infected animal to a human in a food market in Wuhan. Allies of President Trump had pushed the theory, casting doubt on statements by officials of China’s ruling Communist Party.

Yet the Times never ended up publishing McNeil’s 4,000-word story, after what he called “a good-faith disagreement” over scientific concerns, the complicated nature of the evidence and questions about the political motives of the mostly anonymous sources who were promoting it at the time, he later wrote.

In hindsight, the decision looks fortuitous. Because McNeil, while open to the possibilities and following many leads, ultimately came down on the skeptical side. “New Coronavirus Is ‘Clearly Not a Lab Leak,’ Scientists Say,” as he tentatively headlined it — a conclusion that now appears to be not very clear at all.

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