I think the practice of writing an article-by-press release is worth commenting on. It essentially helps launder marketing into consensus "journalistic" truth.

I think the practice of writing an article-by-press release is worth commenting on. It essentially helps launder marketing into consensus "journalistic" truth. It is, of course, done because it is far cheaper and easier for a journalist to repackage a press release than to actually do reporting. You are right that it is widespread (which op certainly recognizes, that's their point), and it's not new (not sure if OP recognizes) -- Chomsky and Herman's Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (1988) originally brought this practice (and others) to my attention, along with in general thinking about what mainstream journalism actually does and how and why. (Because it is in large part, as a standard practice, driven by economics, it's possible it has accelrated as newsrooms and reporting budgets have been, literally, decimated. But that's just a guess). It is still definitely worth commenting on. That what standard journalism actually does, for the most part, even well-respected outlets, is not quite the model most people have of it, is quite a bit lazier and less reliable than the outlets would like you understand them as.