reporters are supposed to report what was said, not what they think was said

I meant more that if you said someone indicated something you may be paraphrasing what they said for convenience. Several examples of this on the BBC website, e.g.

Mr Blair's article comes a day after he indicated that the timing of any action was being discussed with Britain's closest allies

Blair almost definitely didn't say "the timing of any action is being discussed with Britain's closest allies", but neither is this interpretation/summary of what he did say subjective or contentious.