Isn’t reporting what reporters do? I don’t know if you remember when during the Iraq war the reporters who were embedded with the troops reporting from the battle zone while some so-called “reporters” reported their news that was fed to them from their hotel rooms?
But these guys have no cover. Not from their own contacts or their bureau’s contacts.
That’s how these stories used to be reported.
Times have changed. Bureaus have gone to local talent and can’t change the formula when ‘big’ events happen just to get an american face in the shot.