It's interesting that in that link about Elizabeth of the NYT that it was the EDITORS, not Elizabeth, who added that sentence about her article being based on another reporter's report. So what she presented so "vividly" was 2nd hand "news".
Yah, she tried to pass it off as truth in reporting but I found the fact very telling that the editor added it after she turned it in. And after she worked so hard to sound like she was actually there. WAAAAAAAAAH