Journalism weeds itself of those not "in the club" via unpaid or barely paid internships in the highest COL cities.

This is pretty recent, I think. There used to be a lot more newspapers with dedicated newsrooms in smaller cities. Carl Bernstein's first job was in Elizabeth, NJ. CJ Chivers started in Providence, RI. Dean Baquet started in NOLA.

That's because Dean Baquet is from NOLA - his family owned Lil' Dizzy's restaurant for years

Journalism is quite different in that most journalists don't make all that much. Also credentialing isn't nearly as big a factor. In fact, a lot of people in the industry look down on J-schools. The common career path among the non-freelance journalists I know at more prestigious publications is knocking around trade pubs and (at least formerly) small city papers before getting their break. (But, yes, connections matter too.)

What's the relevance of journalism? It's not a lucrative industry and neither are individual journalists well-paid.

There are very few to no situations where your company or reputation or even your way of life depends on your cleaning service.

Or another way to look at this is that lawyers get paid based on their reputation. Firms with a high reputation only have the ability to hire so many new lawyers. Those positions are indeed highly sought after, because that's how you get paid well, by getting in with a firm that already has a reputation. You're going to have a hard time starting out on your own, building up a reputation. Hell, sometimes you need to have built enough of a reputation just to get a position with a firm that has a high reputation.

While people/companies are looking for the best person/firm they can afford to represent them... cleaners are still just cleaners.

There is some middle ground of corporate lawyers and partners at smaller but relatively prosperous practices. But, yes, for the many it's making partner at a white shoe firm which tends to require attending one of a fairly small number of law schools and getting a prestigious clerkship--or you're running ads in the subway.

You do get supply demand corrections over time though. If you know you'll be making minimum wage if you didn't go to a top law school a lot of people would stop doing so.