I do a lot of local political stuff, and am acquainted with people doing serious local political corruption and mismanagement and scandal journalism, and I think you'd be surprised how small the audience is for that stuff. CNN isn't avoiding this stuff because they're part of a conspiracy to suppress the truth; they're avoiding it because it's ratings death. Which is what you're saying! But they're a business, not a public service, so that's the end of the story.