> The problem is large chunk of the media didn't say, as you are saying, that there was no evidence, which would be fine to argue. They just said it didn't come from lab, period, full stop. There is a difference from saying there is no proof and that something didn't happen.

I can't speak to all of media everywhere, but the mass media did repeatedly say there was no evidence and that the origin of the virus was still uncertain/unclear

CNN - "But the lack of evidence to back up claims that the outbreak began in a Chinese lab has not stopped top administration officials, including Pompeo, and some Republican allies of the President from raising the possibility in public comments...Meanwhile, the uncertainty over the virus’ origins extends to the closest intelligence partners of the US. The US evidence shared with the allied intelligence-sharing group known as Five Eyes doesn’t rule one theory in or out, according to a foreign official in regular contact with the Trump administration. " (https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/30/politics/trump-intelligence-c...)

YAHOO - "he scientific evidence has remained unchanged, according to interviews with five virologists who have experience in microbiology, infectious disease ecology and viral evolution. The researchers offered near-uniform summations that few conclusions can be drawn based on the available scientific evidence, but they noted that the context and circumstances of the origin debate have changed, particularly as critics point out that China hasn't been fully transparent about the earliest days of the pandemic." (https://news.yahoo.com/science-around-lab-leak-theory-204525...)

The DailyMail - "The Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory is located about 20 miles away from the Huanan Seafood Market and some have wondered if the outbreak's epicentre is coincidental, but the scientific community currently believes that the virus mutated through and jumped to people through animal-human contact at the market. But, 'at this point there's no reason to harbour suspicions' that the facility had anything to do with the outbreak, besides being responsible for the crucial genome sequencing that lets doctors diagnose it, Rutgers University microbiologist Dr Richard Ebright told DailyMail.com." (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7922379/Chinas-la...)

The New York Post - "Many health experts believe the coronavirus began circulating in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in November 2019. Authorities in Beijing date the first confirmed case to Dec. 8 of that year. The theory that the coronavirus accidentally leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology into the wider population has gained credence as a viable explanation in recent weeks, following a World Health Organization-led investigation and report — compiled with the help of the Chinese government — that left many other nations dissatisfied." (https://nypost.com/2021/05/23/three-wuhan-lab-workers-were-h...)

The Washington Post - "How do you cover unfounded and specious allegations lodged not from some random Internet commenter, but from the most powerful man in the world? You can fact-check, but do you in the process inadvertently lend them credence? Do you call the claims “baseless” or “conspiracy theories?” Do you call them “lies,” even if you can’t 100 percent disprove them, or even if you don’t know for sure that the person promoting them actually knows better? It has become evident that some corners of the mainstream media overcorrected when it came to one particular theory from Trump and his allies: that the coronavirus emanated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, rather than naturally. It’s also true that many criticisms of the coverage are overwrought and that Trump’s and his allies’ claims invited and deserved skepticism." (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/05/24/fix-china...)

The Guardian - “As things currently stand, the evidence strongly suggests that Covid-19 arose after a natural spillover event, but nobody is yet in a position to rule out an alternative,” he said." (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/22/the-wuhan-lab-...)

Even sites I'd hesitate to call mainstream media got in on it:

The Daily Beast - "There is no evidence that the novel coronavirus was engineered, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility that it may have originated in the lab, which spent years testing bat coronaviruses in animals."(https://www.thedailybeast.com/leaked-cable-shows-us-official...)

> People were literally banned off social media for saying it came from a lab.

I would argue that if people were spreading conspiracy theories by making accusations or claims without evidence those bans may have been justified, but I know enough about moderation on social media to be sure that they overstepped at times too. Remember, the spread of these conspiracy theories resulted in Asian people being beaten in the streets for no reason. It's no surprise that some people didn't have a lot of tolerance for those repeating unsupported accusations.

What I can say, is that as evidence for the lab leak theory grew, even when it was very weak and purely circumstantial, the media reported on that evidence and their tone shifted dramatically. Once it stopped being wild accusations they were perfectly willing to talk about it.