The bar for publication (like much of our media) used to be far higher. Particularly with the push to get everyone through college, even at the cost of lowering

The bar for publication (like much of our media) used to be far higher. Particularly with the push to get everyone through college, even at the cost of lowering standards, there's a sort of regression to the mean with respect to publication quality. It happens with any difficult, technical field that initially attracts the more capable in society. Hell, look at what the internet was back when it was still mostly needs with passion.