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.
(..) Honey, I'm sure he's around. You'll find him. It's too short! We need more monkeys! There aren't any more! That's the whole barrel! Buzz, the monkeys aren't working! We're formulating another plan! Stay calm! Oh, where could he be? (..)1995 Toy Story