We just have way too many bored and incompetent 1099’ed Journalism “professionals” running around trying to get “noticed”, by interviewing the weirdest wackos they can unearth.
As a former reporter/editor, believe me when I tell you that if you found one in 20 ‘professionals’ in the classic sense working as a reporter with integrity, you’d be doing incredibly good. In several years I came across a mere handful out of dozens I had genuine respect for. And most of those also left the business and never looked back out of sheer disgust.
J school turns out people for profit. People go there to push agendas when they get out. Such is the state of the modern reporter.