To clarify, I wouldn't deny that the bar is lowering (as you said, it shows). The narrative scapegoating of the media invariably implies that the media is detac

To clarify, I wouldn't deny that the bar is lowering (as you said, it shows). The narrative scapegoating of the media invariably implies that the media is detached from the public and is following its own agenda on this matter. There's lots of ways that the "media elite" are detached from the public and consequently are disconnected from the marketplace; this is NOT one of them. The unacknowledged truth behind "Actual news outlets covering actual news have an enormous incentive to cut corners on this stuff", and "that all sells better than Lehrer’s guidelines do" is that it's consumers of media who are firmly driving this trend. If the audience valued Lehrer's guidelines more, there'd not be an enormous incentive to cut corners. If anything, the folks who work in media overvalue Lehrer's guidelines as compared to the market. It's not them who is doing it.