You have a misunderstanding about "validate it for accuracy". From the point of view of journalism, this validation only means that you're reporting that a stat

You have a misunderstanding about "validate it for accuracy". From the point of view of journalism, this validation only means that you're reporting that a statement was really made by someone, or that a fact occurred as the journalist saw it happening. It doesn't mean that the journalist will validate experiments, or investigate statements made by someone else.