That the Washington Post corrected the news story bespeaks them well; that they didn’t verify the story before publishing it in the first place bespeaks them ill.
How do you verify everything?
You get told by an official that a laptop is found with malware designed to do [bad thing] and it might be capable of doing[bigger bad thing], who do you verify it with? How long do you take? Will your detractors give you credit for being thorough or do you get shit for “hiding” the story?
This evidence:
For example, they didn’t even try to contact the utility company until after they published the story.