Chief Wiggum,
To answer the question in the order posed;
1. The professionals with whom I work, and know, do not give Mr Smith any credence but he has a view which, while not necessarily representative of anyone other than himself, is nevertheless news. Therefore he gets his name and sometimes his photo in the paper. I would add that Mr Smith has superb media skills and can create news out of almost anything. It is a skill I have only seen repeated in Richard Branson. By contrast the remainder of the Australian aviation industry is riven by jealousy, petty infighting, turf protection, bastardry, lies, vicious personal attacks (just ask Gaunty) and behaviours more often seen in the playground at the local infants school. Little wonder the media treats such organisations and people with the contempt they deserve.
2. The ongoing problem with dealing with events, such as crashes, is determining just what the facts are. Very few reporters have the benefit of being able to visit crash sites, talk to police, firemen, investigators and eyewitnesses in the time allocated to gather material for a story. Try doing all of the above from a distance of 1000kms with no phone numbers and 15 minutes to file the story. And waiting until the ATSB reports is not an option.
3. Speaking only for myself, yes.
4. No. What's your point? Is there something newsworthy in an industrial award? In my experience there are packed full of jargon and legalese which can only be translated by lawyers in court rooms. Further, very few industrial squabbles get news coverage and those that do usually involve unions with many more members than those representing pilots.
5. Yes, I follow the forums on PPRUNE, some with interest, others only to read the rants and raves of the usual suspects. PPRUNE is primarily a rumours network. Rumours are not news. Verifiable facts are news.
The short answer to your final point is that what makes news depends entirely on the gatherer, the gatherer's point of view, access to witnesses, the play the story may get in the newspaper or bulletin and the competing stories in the news mix. Pilots, in my experience, and I'll add scientists, engineers and doctors to the pool, are vitally interested in every aspect of their profession, it's their job. Journalists can not afford that luxury, their job is to produce a product and compete for public attention.
MoFo
For your information both Ms Grimshaw and Ms Doyle earned their stripes as reporters in the hard schools of Melbourne and the Canberra press gallery respectively. You denegate them unfairly.