The media

Anyone who is the subject of media scrutiny will often complain that the media sensationalises and on other occasions gets the story wrong.
So is the media just the messenger or is it more?
Is it possible that journalists like the rest of the human race can simply be lazy and then fail to get the story as it is?
Two examples in the last few days have highlighted the point.
On Sunday a train travelling from Dublin to Sligo was delayed up to four hours. The incident received extensive coverage on radio, TV and in the newspapers. And yet no journalist ever asked Irish Rail the most pertinent question of all - how come that it took so long to run a spare locomotive from Connolly Station to the failed train? And that's where the real story was. Instead we got loads of irrelevant questioning and answering, and indeed obfuscation.
Item number two. The current industrial dispute at Harristown. The item is receiving much media attention and yet it seems no-one seems to know the actual reason for the dispute.
Do drivers have to clock in at Harristown and then travel into town to join their bus? Can they clock in in town?
Is it possible for regular journalists to cover a multitude of stories about which they have little or no background?
What happens when it comes to subjects of erudition and complexity?