As far as I can tell it's either a desire for a certain political team to be right, people wanting to be contrarian above all else, and a belief that if an authority says something is likely false it's a conspiracy.
Correct, but not for the reason you may think. As a non-American, I can tell you the only people around me who are really sure about this new unknown disease one way or other are those who follow the American news too much. They're really defensive about their positions as well well. It seems American media has nailed how to really brainwash the masses.
It seems to involve a story where they really shame some people for being stupid (the people don't actually have to be stupid, just should be presentable as such with loaded questions, clever editing... what have you) and then while the people are experiencing second hand embarassment for the person, feed them what they need to think to not be ridiculed in mass media like this. This seems to work way too well and it seems they use it ALL THE TIME. Almost every "comedy news show" or opinion piece seems to be formatted like this.
It seems to involve a story where they really shame some people for being stupid (the people don't actually have to be stupid, just should be presentable as such with loaded questions, clever editing... what have you) and then while the people are experiencing second hand embarassment for the person, feed them what they need to think to not be ridiculed in mass media like this. This seems to work way too well and it seems they use it ALL THE TIME. Almost every "comedy news show" or opinion piece seems to be formatted like this.