A journalist on Wednesday gave an unusual answer for why the mainstream media sat on the Hunter Biden laptop story for over a year after the story broke shortly before the 2020 election.

Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum was confronted by a freshman university student during a question and answer panel Wednesday on disinformation and the media, at a University of Chicago event. 

After the student noted a Media Research Center poll which found 17% of Biden voters admitted they would have abandoned their vote if they had known the Hunter Biden laptop story before the election, he asked Applebaum about the media's culpability.

"Do you think the media acted inappropriately when they instantly dismissed Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation and what can be learned from that in ensuring that what we label as disinformation is truly disinformation and not reality?" he posed.

CNN, MSNBC DISMISSED HUNTER BIDEN’S LAPTOP AS ‘RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION’ UNTIL LIBERAL NARRATIVE WAS DEFLATED

Hunter Biden Joe Biden

Vice President-elect Joe Biden stands with his son Hunter during a re-enactment of the Senate oath ceremony on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

Applebaum didn’t directly answer either question, but instead claimed Hunter Biden’s emails weren’t "interesting."

"My problem with Hunter Biden’s laptop is, I think, totally irrelevant. I mean, it’s not whether it’s disinformation," she offered. 

"I mean, I didn’t think Hunter Biden’s business relationships have anything to do with who should be president of the United States. So, I don’t find it to be interesting. I mean, that would be my problem with that as a major news story," the journalist responded.

The New York Times and The Washington Post both verified Hunter Biden's laptop after dismissing the New York Post's bombshell reporting during the 2020 presidential election.

The New York Times and The Washington Post both verified Hunter Biden's laptop after dismissing the New York Post's bombshell reporting during the 2020 presidential election. (Getty images  |  New York Post)

HUNTER BIDEN SCANDAL HEATS UP AS MAINSTREAM OUTLETS AWAKEN: RUSSIAN ‘DISINFORMATION’ NO MORE

CNN host and former Obama adviser David Axelrod was also on stage and assured the student they would speak more on that topic at the next day’s panel.

Despite being "uninterested" now, Applebaum strongly denounced the Hunter Biden emails for The Atlantic in October 2020, calling the story part of "right-wing-media smears." 

The Washington Post and The New York Times recently confirmed that Biden's laptop and emails were real, after ignoring and then disparaging the story as Russian disinformation at the height of the 2020 election. 

CNN and MSNBC were equally guilty for trashing the scandal as Russian disinformation and a smear campaign against Biden back then, but have still barely mentioned the laptop on their cable news programs since the two papers authenticated the laptop.

Social media giants Twitter and Facebook also blocked users from sharing the original reporting by the New York Post on Biden's emails prior to the 2020 election.

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