From my experience, news organizations and reporters will embargo stories that they didn’t/couldn’t break out of pride and will only return to them if the story grows legs.
The catch-22 is that the initial “gatekeeping” kills a lot of scandal and corruption stories out of simple hubris and pride.
Not true. If it makes conservatives look bad, news organizations could care less where the stories come. Shoot, the Obama Stream Media would report on rumors in the Blogosphere if it made Sarah Palin look bad. They don't care where the story came. The media is agenda driven.