Yes, it has become endemic. And, where I live, we're encouraged to act as though it's gone away.

As a member of the media, I haven't found that the media hate stories that won't end nicely so much as that it's becoming harder for them to cover them. In a digital age, the industry is ever-more driven by ratings, clicks, and other forms of engagement. And "quieter" stories (like updates on Covid) don't drive those the way fresh outrages on other topics do. Journalists who'd like to do those stories are often in a tough position if their employers are judging them by measures like whether or not a story goes viral.