Would you expect a news outlet to be able to somehow verify the testimony of a prisoner of war before reporting on it?

“If the circumstance were different would you expect something different?” is what you are asking me. The interviewee isn’t a POW, but a defector. And not an escapee, because according to the article he was already sent abroad, so it’s not like he fled with merely the clothes on his back and a story to tell. So I would presume he would have a bit more to share with the BBC than just a story.