I suspect that journalists like Rolling Stone and CNN have some pretty reliable sources, but they come from Slash's side of the fence. And Axl does often say things where he seems to contradict himself. Both sides are probably technically correct.
Not that I'm sticking up for the shitty journalists but in this case I don't think it's 100% on them because Axl's talked outta both sides of his mouth too. At the Korn party he said he hadn't seen Slash in ten years then like two months later he said he saw him last October.
Again, where did he say he himself received Slash?