Sometimes the result of media organizations focusing on what other media organizations are already focusing on is simply boring, uninspired, and essentially useless work.

For example, some of today's news organizations devote a considerable amount of their efforts to illustrating trends identified by externally produced story idea services, which come complete with cookie-cutter instructions on how to "localize" them.

The net result can be a sameness in news coverage comparable to the sameness and interchangeability we find in shopping malls, with everything revolving around the same few established Name Brand Issues.