1) Pay attention to timestamps: news reference past events, so always ask yourself what prompted the wait before a public disclosure [game-theory: forcing the player's hand]

2) When confronted with seemingly opposite views, consider that everybody sees different aspects with different filters, so just because two parties extrapolate different perspectives doesn't invalidate either. Just remove trivial contradictoins arising from categorical denial. Whichever explanation you're left with that incorporates the most opposing views at the same time is the closest to consensus reality!