“Why should we revoke a reporter’s award for a story full of lies, when, in fact, we want the reporters to spread these lies, and we want the lies to be believed?”
Until Pulitzer and his ilk stirred up the masses, people were content to accept the explosion of the USS Maine off the cost of Cuba (then owned by Spain) as yet another steamboat explosion. We'll never know for sure why it exploded. But Pulitzer kept the masses stirred up with his frequent "breaking news" of "new developments" that were a bunch of nothings, but enough to get the public desire war more than Bill ever desired Monica.
To this day the Pulitzer Prize is not awarded to the journalist who brought forward the largest amount of unknown truth. It's to the one who's best at making a mountain from a molehill.