"Conspiracy of silence" or "Justifiable disinterest"?
With many of the 'press' that ran with the stories, I'd suggest that, having sucked the readers and viewers in due to lack of due diligence,
they simply don't want egg on their faces.
Much better just to stay shtum.
(In case you're wondering about the definition of 'shtum' in English, a dictionary example given is:
"He kept shtum about the fact that he was sent down for fraud.")