"We" joke that everyone in social media becomes an insta-expert on the latest breaking news subject, but I don't think it's appreciated enough that this is largely what (certain types of) journalists do! Something happens, they acquaint themselves with the issue, phone around to a few "experts," learn enough to write it up for tomorrow's paper (back when news publishing fit that schedule, anway).
You can do that well or poorly, of course, and trusted journalists at trusted news outlets should do that well! Hopefully better than Anynamebunchanumbers on Twitter, at least.
But one problem with everything being subsumed into politics news coverage is that "call the local civil engineer" quickly gets supplanted with "on one hand this seems like an accident, on the other hand some critics suggest that DEI hiring practices led to this tragedy."
Who is to say what's right? Not so different than what Anynamebunchanumbers is peddling. If unresolvable competing opinions from nonexperts (or, even worse, an expert versus a right winger as if they are equivalent) dominate the coverage of almost everything, it isn't clear what journalists offer other than "rolodex" with the same 30 assholes.
I haven't yet seen this in "respectable" outlets, but it's early!!!
