I don't see how the "location" matters. I'm arguing that it's a similar subject. If you're investigating advertising practices, I'd hope that you know quite a lot about that subject in general, which includes how it's done at other companies.

How can you talk extensively about the way Facebook does advertising without knowing how its done everywhere else? Doesn't that make you a bad journalist?

By analogy, it'd be like if someone was reporting on how a burger at McDonalds tastes, without having eaten a burger anywhere else.