A "doctored" quotation is not a quotation.

Journalists who allow quote approval become complicit in political spin

What they wish they had said cleansed of what they wish they had not said is not what they said.

"They" being those reported on.

But then they just make stuff up, anyway, don’t they?

"They" being the journos.

Historians, too.

What are they, after all?

Journos retailing older news with less reliable and many fewer sources.