DO JOURNALISTS DO ANY RESEARCH?

I often wonder whether some of the stories that appear in newspapers and magazine are researched. I think more often than not the reporters rely on what the company or service being featured tells them.
Take a story today about the MagPal service in The Bangkok Post's Guru magazine. (I wrote about new service this more than six weeks ago). It reads just like a press release and extols the virtues of using the magazine rental service. In many ways it should be labelled as an advertorial.
The story claims that "imported magazines can cost up to THB 900 per issue". Wrong. A significant number of specialist magazine actually cost more. And while the story adds "the most you'll ever pay [from MagPal] is THB 499.." it fails to note that with this service is merely rental; when you buy a magazine from the shops its yours.
Strangely it also says the service will be of benefit to small and medium-sized businesses, in particular cafes, spas, salons, etc, that have magazines laying around. Ummm .. correct me if I'm wrong here but most publishers give free copies to these particular establishments, meaning there's no cost to these businesses. Are they really going to pay for something they're already getting for free?
I've got nothing against MagPal and I wish them success but I really cannot see how it's going to work.