<<Opinions are not facts.>>
Of course not. But the combination of the opinion with the name of the person holding it is very definitely a fact; if that person previously held the opposite opinion, that is a newsworthy fact; and, of course, it's a fact that certain influential opinion-makers are swinging around to a different view of things. That's news. If you can't understand WHY that's news, or why that's fact, we had best agree to disagree and move on to something else.