With its ploy exposed, will the NYT eat crow?

And we thought only dubious or biased media outlets were in the business of spreading falsity. One day the US president tweets from another universe, and hours later admonishes people saying stories based on anonymous sources are "fiction". A couple of days before that, The New York Times publishes a report which is neither backed by facts nor crosschecked for authenticity.

The NYT quoted anonymous US federal health officials and scientists to say China has not been sharing samples of a deadly flu strain with the United States for more than a year, leaving health officials worried that trade tensions between the two countries could halt once-routine information sharing of medical and related issues.

Did the NYT crosscheck with the World Health Organization whether the US health officials' claim was true? No. Did it get a response from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention or the Chinese embassy in Washington? No.