There are three possible values to a boolean variable: true, false and null. Null is the value when you don’t know, or before you know. It is the prediscovery content of an entry.
The Washington Post admitted that they were mistaken in supposing the value of the question ‘did covid start in a lab?’ was false. It is null. We don’t know yet. The mistake was in dismissing the question and implying the answer was false.
the Washington Post has added a correction above a February 2020 story:
“Earlier versions of this story and its headline inaccurately characterized comments by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) regarding the origins of the coronavirus. The term “debunked” and The Post’s use of “conspiracy theory” have been removed because, then as now, there was no determination about the origins of the virus.”