The excessive coverage of the scandal signals that the news media may have finally hit/reached 'the bottom of the barrel'.
Salaries in the industry are scraping/hitting 'the bottom of the barrel'. [=salaries in the industry are very low]
Several people have lost their jobs recently, so the office isn't exactly a 'barrel of laughs' these days.
(..) Easy money. Oh, shit. Not good. Not good. How we doing? - Primal cord is set. One more barrel. Two more minutes. How do we set them off? - Remote control. Piece of cake. We got company. (..)1991 Terminator 2: Judgment Day