Why Oh Why?

Isn't a intended non-factual statment called a lie?:

'his remark was not intended to be a factual statement,'

This doesn't say Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) made a mistake, it says that he was not intending to be factual (even though he was citing a specific figure). With his credibility now seriously in question, this ought to cause news agencies to stop quoting, interviewing, or otherwise paying attention to Senator Kyl. One lie -- especially one that is "intended" as this one seems to be -- should cause reputable news agencies to stay away. But they won't. Providing credible information to the public does not seem to be the first order of business. [Update: I should add that I realize he was simply tossing out a figure without bothering to check, he said 90 percent when the truth was closer to 3 percent, so maybe "intended lie" is a bit strong as a description. But why should anyone, e.g. a news agency, be willing to rely upon or report the views of someone who is willing to yank figures out of thin air -- wrong figures it turns out -- to support an argument?]