The buck doesn't stop at the reporters right? They had somebody above them who gave the permission to run the story. Also, I want to believe that they did more

The buck doesn't stop at the reporters right? They had somebody above them who gave the permission to run the story. Also, I want to believe that they did more groundwork to establish credibility before deciding to go for it. If it turns out to be false, I wouldn't know whom to trust anymore.