I think the stereotype of unscrupulous journos who deliberately twist the facts for their own ends, and 'as policy' (their 'stock in trade') is both offensive and dangerously far from the truth. Journos who sometimes get it wrong because they haven't got themselves a decent brief are regrettably common, and there is a huge difference.
Making absurd generalisations will never help win the majority of journos over to what is a worthwhile cause.
Re this individual, I suspect that it would be someone from a local paper, or a freelance or semi-freelance stringer. Specialist journos would be too afraid of the ****-storm which would follow this kind of behaviour, and most National journos would know the ropes well enough not to do it.
I'm making people in our industry aware of the interest surrounding this, and will PM the Pontiff if I find out anything.