This total lack of true “investigative journalism” is happening not just on a the international but also on the local scale.
My Pennsylvania County has been under a “drought emergency” for over a month; and the customers of the largest public water utility have likewise been under mandatory water use restrictions.
Imagine my surprise to find a fire hydrant cracked full open pouring hundreds of gallons per minute along a road...totally being wasted.
I could not wade through the automated answering system to reach a live human being at my local Gannett/USA Today aka “useless hay for pay” affiliate...after all, bad optics at the very least deserves a good picture.
Then, after some further investigation by me—not a “reporter”—I uncovered that the utility was under state mandate to flush every fortnight because of a complaint about bacterial levels.
So much for transparency!
So much for “journalism”!
A First Amendment, if you can keep it.
What county, again?
My county (Pike) was under flood warnings all summer.