> Let's not forget that fundamentally, journalism is little more than verified gossip

No it's not. "California Wildfire Spreads" and "USA Withdraws from Paris Agreement" are not gossip. Sure, the NYTimes will report gossip from anonymous trump aides, but that's not most journalism.

> Journalisms biggest Achilles Heel is its insistence on the concept of quality journalism

This sounds to me like "Truth is hard! Let's give up." Failing at quality journalism is better than succeeding at cynical, schlock journalism. The former harms society.