Most of your perceptions are correct - that when there's a glut in journalism in a certain issue, any journalist becomes an "expert" regardless of merit.
However, being a former crime beat reporter, I'm extremely sensitive to the fact the journalist has to maintain a relationship, in my case with police agencies. Write one story they feel casts them in a negative light and the source dries up. So do any other sources anywhere near the original source.
The same thing goes in reporting with the military. So many repporters have to cozy up to brass just to get specific information that they become isolated/insulated from the rest of the CF and the public at large. Such a delicate balance must be maintained to get anything close to the truth out. This is a valid reason to be suspect of so many things written from embedded reporters, who can't help but become cheerleaders for their "protectors" as much as we should assess information from the megamedia (for lack of a better term), who also can't help but to offer the narrow world view of their publishers and owners.
For anyone to think there is an objective news organization out there, I would have to think they are either incredibly naive or overly optimistic.
As for the ST - EdeC matter, that is real old and indeed a can of worms. Because of the lack of journalists with military exposure or experience, there's an assumption that whatever rises to the top must be cream. So, we obviously need more journalists with background. But even then, that won't solve the fact that, every once in a while, you're not going to like what you read because it all boils down to "what is newsworthy?" Certainly when looking at two stories, 'Dog bites man' and 'Man bites dog' you have to expect the editor to pick the latter because nine times out of ten, that's what the public would chose as well. Does this help give the public a balanced view of the world around them? Certainly not. Newsworthiness skews reality.
Of course, I'm only saying that because I don't want antone from here to, down the road, criticize me for a negative piece when there are so many negative stories within the CF right now. Gawd, you could write volumes on failures in the recruiting process alone!
Once again, just my $0.02 worth.
Regards,
GonzoScribe