I wish that news articles would actually cite how they know things
Yep. When I actually started reading some news articles and quickly found out that I was on my own if I want to learn more or verify what I just read, really put me off that stuff.
When I actually post something informative, it seems crazy to not include the links I already have anyway. And make sure it’s viewable in the wayback machine if it’s something so predictably ephemeral…
Aren’t you basically just describing FOSS and framing it as a complaint? Valve for example has a vested interest in improving their software stack, and they do just that by donating both money and engineers to various projects. If these open source projects did not exist, they would have to spend the same or even more money on a proprietary licensed alternative, or to develop their own solution.