Half Full or Half Empty?

So I'm listening to NPR this morning and they do a lengthy piece on the upcoming elections in Iraq. First up is their correspondent interviewing a number of Iraqis. They all insist (among other things) that the most influential political/religious figure in the country, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, has not endorsed any of the parties.

Immediately afterwards is another interview with a random American talking head, who repeatedly insists that Sistani is backing the favored party.

The news anchors themselves make no mention whatsoever of this glaring contradiction between two of their sources, within a minute's time no less. Now, were they a) asleep at the switchboard, or b) confident in their listeners to draw their own conclusions from the diverging accounts?