Thinking an editor made an honest mistake isn't a very cynical outlook. Average cynicism would assume the editor knew the difference and played up the angle as

Thinking an editor made an honest mistake isn't a very cynical outlook. Average cynicism would assume the editor knew the difference and played up the angle as clickbait, hardcore cynics would assume the editor changed something like the radio waves "originated off planet" to "were extraterrestrial" to force click bait in.