> But clocks at least can be made quite accurate. I'm not at all sure that's true of news sources.

Time isn't as absolute as everyone would like to think. At many levels, from relativity through to measurement through to systems of representation through to cultural interpretations. And even if much of the western world has converged on SI, Gregorian etc, there are still big differing views.

I have a feeling that, whilst it's tempting to think that there are any absolutes in the universe, there are none. With facts, like the time, you have to pick what level you're comfortable calling a baseline.

So maybe 'time' and 'facts' are closer than the GP suggests.

A vaue line of reasoning, for sure.