Online news outlets are not only competing against one another, but against traditional media. The pressure to be first or to scoop the others is immense.
Rushed stories can mean less time for fact-checking and less time to interview subjects.
As a result, you see a lot of 'clip jobs' from press releases. In the March issue of The Atlantic, James Fallows asks how much a company's culture contributes to its success. On Tuesday I passed the Bezos billboard. Alas, the defaced ad had been refaced so the pennies are gone. It was great while it lasted.