The 4th option is they be a journalist and form an educated unbiased account and not contrive legitimacy. Again, your position is untenable. You can't be a little bit journalist no more than you can be a little bit pregnant, or a little bit faithful, or a little bit truthful, or a little bit dead. You are or you are something else. If everything was so black and white as this, life would be simple.
A journalist gives an unbiased, educated account and has no need to contrive legitimacy. When the wheels start turning to prove there is no bias or that the account is competent, there's a problem. Its hard to be more concise than that.