I suggest you read or re-read “1984”. By your journalistic “principle”, if Trump or his propagandists were to say “2+2=5” you would be bound to simply repeat what is demonstrably false. That’s not journalism.
Journalism does not mean a reporter must simply repeat an obvious falsehood. On the contrary; in such a case their job is to ask wise follow-ups designed to clarify whether the basis on which the statement rests may legitimately be open to interpretation, or is more clearly BS.
