I don't think any service was done as far as alerting them something would be published because it's generally obvious: anyone even slightly-relevant to the sto

I don't think any service was done as far as alerting them something would be published because it's generally obvious: anyone even slightly-relevant to the story is contacted by a journalist and asked to share information beforehand, and of course some fraction will share this occurrence with others. But it's also true that they'd like to do as you claim, I think it's only fair skepticism is applied equally to both sides.