Doesn't look to me like the 'bottom of the barrel' comment was applied to the social status of the woman. Looked more like parent was making the point that it's a stretch to call the drug dealer the victim...that the reporter must be scraping the 'bottom of the barrel' of their story ideas.

You're going to have to be a lot more specific. What makes you think 'bottom of the barrel' was referring to the social status of the woman?