Defence reporting needs service-specific expertise

How much does the shortage of specialist defence journalists contribute to poor scrutiny?

Substantially: newsrooms need reporters who study across services instead of treating experience in one branch as expertise in all three.

Newsrooms often treat prior service as universal defence expertise even though Army, Navy, and RAF careers are highly specialized. Experience in light infantry does not automatically explain carrier aviation, submarines, or ship procurement. Former personnel can become excellent cross-service reporters when they study unfamiliar domains. A shortage of specialist posts makes that sustained study harder and weakens public scrutiny.