Why not stretch the truth?

Last week the BBC and the Independent came very close to a lie. The suggestion was that Russian ships had finally managed for the first time to navigate the north passage was evidence of climate warming.

The truth emerged subsequently that the north passage was first negotiated in 1935, and in several years since at intervals it has been achieved.

Whether their apostolic fervour got the better of them, and what they really meant was "with less aid from ice-breakers", the fact remains that their implication was clear. The Biased Broadcasting Corporation and the Dependent were guilt of misleading.