"To me, the term "Fake News" implies a conspiracy; knowingly misleading the public to further an agenda."
You don't think this series was planned with a goal in mind? Look at the time and resources that were devoted to it - an year and a half and dozens of people (and that's just who was actually credited). I think the agenda is clear. There was never any attempt to present the cop's side t this or examine what happens to innocent men when the "unfounded" rate is artificially lowered due to political forces. Whether they did a good job of it is not really relevant to whether or not it was fake news.