And a lie is a very blurry thing. You can completely mislead the reader by not being factually incorrect and still present a completely false representation of reality. Usually by eliminating the relevant context or mitigating fact that would completely change the interpretation of an event. Sometimes editing out the part of a sentence that would give a different if not opposite meaning. That’s the standard operating procedure of all journalists these days, when they even bother to get their facts right.
"A published article or post aiming to sway public opinion, especially by presenting false or biased information in a way that appears objective and truthful."
"false OR biased". So, a biased partisan article attempting to sway public opinion about someone is by definition a hit piece. Even without explicit lies.