Fox anchor frets we don’t have a ‘functioning media’ — while airing conspiracy theories from Steve Bannon group

On Tuesday, The Daily Beast published a blockbuster story titled, "Steve Bannon is behind bogus study that China created COVID."

"A new study purporting to show that the novel coronavirus was manufactured in a Chinese lab was published by a pair of nonprofit groups linked to Steve Bannon, the former top Trump strategist now facing felony fraud charges," The Beast reported. "The study is the work of the Rule of Law Society and the Rule of Law Foundation, sister nonprofit organizations that Bannon was instrumental in creating. According to documents posted on the Society’s website last year, he served as that group’s chair."

"A search of Google Scholar and the Rule of Law Society and Rule of Law Foundation websites indicates that the organizations have not previously published scientific or medical research, and it’s unclear whether the paper received any peer review," The Beast reported. "Both of the nonprofits behind the study were formed in conjunction with exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, with whom Bannon has collaborated on a number of advocacy efforts targeting the Chinese government and business endeavors that have drawn the scrutiny of federal law enforcement officials."

Bannon was arrested aboard Wengui's yacht.

"Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Trump administration’s coronavirus point-person, has stressed repeatedly that all evidence indicates the virus was not man-made. "The study published by Bannon’s group on Monday is therefore particularly incendiary. 'This virus is not from nature,' declared Dr. Li-Meng Yan, one of the scientists who conducted the study, during a Monday appearance on a British talk show. She called reports that the virus originated in a Wuhan meat market 'a smoke screen' designed to obscure its true origins."

Hours after Dr. Li-Meng Yan's report was debunked by The Beast, Fox News personality Tucker Carlson let her air the conspiracy theories on national television.