Lets not get our knickers in a twist shall we?
In my experience at least, the ink is often dry on a lot of commercial deals long before they are made public, so I would hardly agree that only what goes in the press can be described as fact. Companies believe it or not don't tend to share that kind of information before it goes public.
Equally, so called contacts spreading gossip to outsiders about any kind of development behind the scenes would no doubt be in severe breach of contract. Quite frankly my credibility would be far more important to me.
It's good to see a bit more discussion on the STN thread finally, but let's try to stay civilised.