There are people who take rumors and embellish them in a way that can be devastating. And this pollution has to be eradicated by people in our business as best we can.

Woodward is condemning the way unverified talk can metastasize into “devastating” narratives once it is repeated, embellished, and circulated as if it were fact. By calling rumor “pollution,” he frames misinformation as a contaminant in the public sphere—something that degrades civic understanding and can harm reputations and institutions. The second sentence shifts from diagnosis to professional ethics: journalists and other information gatekeepers have a duty to verify, contextualize, and resist amplifying dubious claims. The phrase “as best we can” acknowledges limits—sources can be imperfect and facts hard to pin down—yet insists that rigorous reporting is the corrective to a rumor-driven culture.