[arrrg]

You just focused on local reports adding information but I think even more important is that they summarize information and boil the issue down to a couple paragraphs of text, in turn making the information much more easily accessible. Watching an hour long meeting or reading pages of transcripts to extract the useful information is a very different time investment compared to just reading a couple of paragraphs about a topic. (I’m sure most people could do it and maybe even gain a better understanding of the issue compared to just reading a newspaper article but they definitely won’t since the time investment is just not worth it.)

One of the most important functions of the news is to pick and chose which information is important and relevant and to present that information in an understandable way. To fulfill that function they do not even have to go digging for extra information (though that certainly helps and can also, crucially, help in actually picking what’s important and relevant).