National geographic is an esteemed publication, written by and for people who can spell. It is not usually publishing factual untruths, since if they did they would be called out on it and have to retract articles. They have no interest in, nor motive for deceiving the general populace.

The link between birds an dinosaurs is purely supported by the fossil record which everybody knows is incomplete, but still overwhelming in size and weight of evidence. That frauds turn up fossils for fame and profit has been a fact of life for palaeontologists since forever, but I am very certain National Geographic published a retraction shortly after the fraud was uncovered.

In general, we cannot perfectly eliminate fraudulent claims from the news-media. This is a sad fact of life for everyone. We can however, admit we are wrong, a feat which large scientific publications often do in such situations.