Couldn't agree more. There were (and still are, I am sure) some honest folk around in Fleet Street. On the whole, I found the specialist correspondents (with a background in that speciality) were a good bunch, as were some of the senior correspondents who had been around a while. In addition, personalities change, so I can not speak to the current crop with any degree of knowledge, except to say that some of the really good guys who were at the DM in my time have gone on to other, sometimes greater, things.
But enough of the thread creep ...