It's all due to the nature of the '24 hour rolling news' we now have of the War. The tinyest report can get blown up out of all proportion.
Gardian article about 'unconfirmed' stories being reported as 'facts'.

here is a really good article (from the Gardian earlier in the week) about 24 hour news coverage of the War in the UK.
(USA readers) Were no backwater we have the US 'big 3' (Fox, M$NBC & CNN) plus our own 3 (BBC News 24, ITV news channel/ITN & Sky News, who shares reporters with Fox)