re: Good advice on sources
Yep. The Net's a two-edged sword when it comes to research. It's "the Net of a million lies" in that it makes it easy to spin and spread disinformation; yet it also makes available, somewhere, that one tiny needle of truth, if you're willing to take the time to sift the haystack for it.
Most news articles don't bother (wonder why). This isn't easy.
Answered your own (rhetorical) question, didn't you? News organizations work under unremitting deadline pressure, and competition to be the first with a scoop. Rather than lamenting the quality of journalism, maybe we should be awestruck that it's as good as it is?