They report only what is novel and salient for the target audience. If something is on-going but not novel it won’t be reported on until something novel happens

They report only what is novel and salient for the target audience. If something is on-going but not novel it won’t be reported on until something novel happens (e.g. climate change only gets reported on when there’s some kind of study, report, natural disaster or climate conference), and they will only report what they consider salient facts (e.g. general news will not report on the actual science, because that’s too technical and boring, only on controversy around the science or controversial conclusions drawn from the science). What is novel and salient is only a tiny fraction of what is relevant to come to an informed opinion. That’s why news is set up for failure if its role is seen as informing the public. I see more potential for documentaries when it comes to informing the public, but the news controversies around past climate documentaries have made the category somewhat burnt.