How does the media and it's subjective perception affect the way this incident(Singapore Swimmers in hot water) was handled?

The media and it's subjective perception has resulted in this incident to become out of control ever since it started by assuming the boys is mocking the American team even though they only smiled. Once the reporter took a picture and wrote a report about the Singapore swimmers smiling after the results of the American team was known had resulted in other media companies publishing it to the world, including Sports illustrated maazines. In all the reports, singapore swimmers is depicted as mocking the American team, when the only comfirmed fact is that they smiled. This may not be true. One of the swimmers involve in this incident, Zach, said 'we were both smiling, not because we were happy that the American team were disqualified-it was really hard to believe, that was all it was'. This shows that there's a possibility that the swimmers is not mocking the American team. The media's perception of this incident is that the Singapoore swimmers are mocking the American team, thus they are depicted as mocking them. If the media had consulted the boys first before publicising the event, the media may not have depicted the boys as mocking the American team and the public's view most likely would have follow suit. This incident then may not been so bad and the boys involved would not have been in trouble. To conclude, the media's perception of a certain event can change the way it reports the event, which may result in the public having a misunderstanding.