Xenophobia and Misinformation in COVID-19 Origins

Note: This episode contains strong language.

The New York Times’s reporters working in China have been expelled by the Chinese government, alongside reporters covering China for The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Today, we speak with one of our correspondents about his experience learning that he would have to leave the place he has called home for the last decade — and about the last story he reported before he left. Guest: Paul Mozur, the Asia technology reporter for The New York Times, formerly based in Shanghai. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Background reading:

• China’s announcement of the journalists’ expulsion came weeks after President Trump limited the number of Chinese citizens who can work in the United States for five state-run Chinese news organizations.
• While the Chinese government’s official statement cited diplomatic tension as the reasoning for the expulsion, state media outlets pointed to our critical reporting of China’s mass detention of Muslims, government surveillance and its response to the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan as reasons for the move.

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