Yes, it's true -- they just recompile their spoon-fed notes into 8th grade level reading material. You see this kind of thing no matter what they're covering; science (note especially global warming), politics (most media outlets favor Democrats, whether intentionally or not), economics, or anything else. I was reading a piece in one of Scott Adams's books recently (Scott Adams is the author of Dilbert for those who don't know), and he was talking about weasel journalists. Some people would call him up, do a phone interview asking a bunch of easy questions, and then later would e-mail him some questions they "forgot" that were more essay-format. That way, he would even do the typing for the "journalist". If the journalist did it right, Scott Adams would essentially write an entire article for them, and the journalist would get the credit. He said that he's fallen for that trick before, but he has since wised up to it. The example that you site is so rampant, that there's a website devoted to stuff like that, www.junkscience.com Generally, take any news beyond the basic (there was an earthquake, NASA launched a space shuttle, elections are coming up) with a grain of salt. Bias can and does seep into headlines, people get misquoted, and a given reporter will tend not to be the person you'd most want to ask about a given subject.