I think some reporters really can't tell fact from fiction after a while because as they hear information, their brain is mentally transcribing this into the way in which they will write it up; usually in a much more exciting way than the original.
This was brought home to me once when I had spoken at a meeting for local businesses hosted by the local newspaper. Later in the question and answer session, their senior business reporter tried to quote something I had said. Unfortunately, he changed the phrase "the first thing I do", into "the only thing I do" which in context was much more dramatic. Fortunately there were plenty of others in the room to correct him, but it was clear that he had made this mental transition of words, and honestly couldn't remember the (correct) original phrase.
If your working life is spent trying to make the routine sound exciting, then I suppose it is inevitable that you will eventually become unable to report the original information correctly.