I read about something similar in David Brinkley’s memoir book. When he was a young reporter, he was supposed to cover some event, but couldn’t get there in person for some reason. So he wrote up a story using general background information about the event and the organization. I think this is common practice in the news business, to “fill in the gaps” so to speak, when they lack the specifics they are looking for. And it’s nothing new.
That's precisely the point. They've been making up stuff for years.