A journalistic longjump

A journalistic longjump

: Buried in a NY Times story on a battle over operating control of the German newsweekly Der Spiegel is this sleight-of-typing-hand:

Spiegel, which also produces television programs and has a popular Web site, is solidly profitable. It had record circulation of 1.1 million in 2003, as a result of its skeptical coverage of the Iraq war.

How is that said without attribution or justification? Could it be that circulation was up because of news?