Looming measles epidemic due to media thirst for the next MMR

This excellent article in The Guardian explains much of the media’s attitude towards doctors and the NHS:

Nearly all journalists aspire to emulate two stories: the Watergate scandal, which brought down a US president; and the thalidomide scandal, which, after years of campaigning and legal battles, forced a multinational giant to eat humble pie, and made Harold Evans and his Sunday Times Insight team world famous.

Thalidomide explains why, on the flimsiest of evidence, they accuse doctors of inflicting dangerous diseases or disabilities on children.

Due to this willingness to believe any story that is fed to them by an overzealous or even dishonest scientist or doctor, fiascos like the MMR scare happen and lives end up being put at risk. Do journalists get any training in critical thinking as doctors and scientists do?