Journalists used to live by the maxim that if your mother told you she loved you, you had to “check it out.” That sort of unbending skepticism was the backbone of credible news reporting — the “journalism of verification.” But in today’s hyper-competitive news climate, reporters sometimes revert to a yellow journalism standard — “Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story” — when covering something that perfectly fits their preconceptions. Such is the case with the firestorm surrounding defects in various Toyota models, most recently the Prius.