The Lacuna Project

lacuna (n.) a gap in a record where something should be

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Exhibit 1077

Washington Post correction to its February 2020 report on Sen. Tom Cotton and the coronavirus (as reported by Yahoo News)

Exhibit 1077 ยท Newspaper correction (secondhand)

Washington Post correction to its February 2020 report on Sen. Tom Cotton and the coronavirus (as reported by Yahoo News)

Yahoo reports that the Post removed 'debunked' and 'conspiracy theory' from a February 2020 article and headline about Sen. Tom Cotton's remarks on the virus's origins, with an editor's note saying there had been no determination of the origins 'then as now.' The original headline, per Mediaite and Yahoo, read 'Tom Cotton keeps repeating a coronavirus conspiracy theory that was already debunked.'

Source
The Washington Post; reported by Yahoo News
Date
Correction added about 28 May 2021; reported 1 June 2021
Grade
Reported
Document
https://news.yahoo.com/washington-post-corrected-article-described-102002630.html
Accessed
2026-11-10
Cited by
Findings citing this exhibit
Note
No quote: wording was read only in the Yahoo copy. Exact editor's note as Yahoo prints it: 'Earlier versions of this story and its headline inaccurately characterized comments by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) regarding the origins of the coronavirus. The term "debunked" and The Post's use of "conspiracy theory" have been removed because, then as now, there was no determination about the origins of the virus.' Replace with the washingtonpost.com page and its archive captures.

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No published finding cites this exhibit.