Virtually every major outlet ran with Mills' own "I ran out of funds" line — a verbal sleight of hand that makes it sound like a budgeting problem, like her campaign manager overdrew her checking account. None of them asked the obvious follow-up: why didn't she have the money? That question doesn't get asked because asking it puts voters at the center of the story instead of Washington donors and consultants.
This is a beautiful illustration of the problem with news media conventions (what I call Journalism 1.0), which hold that the reporter must quote what the official person said — even if it’s obvious bullshit.
But even in Journalism1.0 the reporter should then continue to probe and question these statements.