I'd say Watergate has burned itself into the public consciousness as a prime example of the power of the media used for good in real life. etc.

Fair point - I amend "never" to "rarely"...

BTW:

The reporter here serves no purpose to the story

Arguably, her purpose is to be the trigger for Sinclair's speech at the end.
Not very good writing to have character with nothing but an extra-textual function, though...