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.
(..) I'm an oilman, ladies and gentlemen, I have numerous concerns spread across this state. I have many wells flowing at many thousand barrels per day, so I like to think of myself as an oilman. As an oilman, I hope that you'll forgive just good old-fashioned plain speaking. Now, this work that we do (..)2007 There Will Be Blood
(..) I couldn't get away sooner because my new well was coming in at Coyote Hills and I had to see about it. That well is now flowing at barrels and it's paying me an income of $ a week. I have two others drilling and I have producing at Antelope, so, ladies and gentlemen, (..)2007 There Will Be Blood