I think we naturally give reporters and publications more credit than they deserve. We like to think they are experts or want to expose the the truth. In reality, they might be idiots who landed a job. Or they are just getting paid to do something like most corporate employees and do the bare minimum and don’t really give a crap about what they are doing. If we don’t hold them to a higher standard, then what they produce makes perfect sense.
There are some amazing journalists out there and I’m sure they are just as disappointed in the mediocre content their peers produce.