I've grown increasingly frustrated with media outlets not citing sources, particularly about scientific, medical, and technological topics. I frequently have to go find source papers myself to discover things like the sample size for a medical study is actually single-digits and statistically irrelevant.
super common, with prestige media outlets citing each others reports as evidence, with each citation lending further credibility to what was an unsourced story. You find in the end that it was an 'anonymous source from govt official' - effectively something that could've been entirely made up
> You find in the end that it was an 'anonymous source from govt official'
This is an appeal to the credibility and reputation of the reporter, which the audience can judge.