At WashPost, un-sourced “speculation” now qualifies as news

From the Post's Michael Fletcher and his 'news' lede:

The Obama administration is delaying release of a congressionally mandated report on the nation's economic conditions, spawning speculation that it is trying to tamp down bad economic news to avoid further complicating the already fraught legislative debate over health care reform.

Seems quite odd to insert “speculation” into the first sentence of a news article. It's especially odd since Fletcher never quotes or points to anyone spawning the speculation. Apparently the Beltway speculation is just sort of out there in the ether, which these days at the WashPost qualifies as news.

Guess the Post has moved from its two-source Watergate reporting rule, to a more general no-source rule of today.