"My question is how long will the media keep falling for these "stories"?"

The media has been reporting on non-stories, or entertainment news, for a long time. Why would anyone expect it to stop? On a slow news day, when a paper has a few inches to fill.

And as far as the book not selling on newsstands...well find me a newsstand...

Hickman's been doing a reasonable job patching and fixing the rubbish from Miller's run, but in so doing he hasn't really told a single satisfactory story of his own yet.

Multiple world Mr Fantastics devalue ours?  Clear them all away forever and establish why ours in a better person check!  FF need to be resestablished as proactive explorers?...explore things check! NuEarth devalues ours by replacing it in nigh certain future? being sorted out now. Future Galactus dead? being sorted out now!

Any of the above actually well characterised and ended with actual endings?....not so much!  3 story line looks dire?....yes, pretty much!

Over-reliance on next gen FF, Valeria and Franklin....yes.

Its a 5/10 mix for me, so I'm occasionally buying it. I bought 586 which was okay but scrappy, failing to unify the 4 disparate threats, one of which in 587 is going to do in somebody (sigh).

Simon BJ

I just miss JB's humane and intelligent Reed, the one who didn't neglect his family and wasn't out-thought by anyone. [Yes I know, but I read JB's first and Lee and Kirby's Reed is slightly too 'two-fisted' for me, even though I can see Hickman's is shaded to that model, with his 'telling off of the faint-hearted scientists etc' - which I think Reed would have been intelligent enough to do via 'subtle convincing' rather than 'dressing down'. [Sorry forget issue number 580 something].

Simon BJ 

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These are the ennui-engorged fanboys who have pretty much ruined the game, since they have largely taken over the PRODUCTION of the work, as well as the consumption.

One of the signature characteristics of these pinheads is that they have lost all connection to the fans they themselves used to be. They have forgotten what it was that drew them into fandom in the first place -- and you can be sure it wasn't the constant disruption of the status quo.

Illusion of change demands a very careful balance being maintained, like walking a tightrope. It also helps if the readers don't hang around longer than they are supposed to. (How can you tell when it's been too long? When the basic conceits of the form generate in you a sigh of annoyance rather than a smile of recognition.)

Cast this thinking into other forms. "O My God! Why does LAW & ORDER have to ALWAYS be about some crime having been committed? Can't they do something ORIGINAL?"

Cast this thinking into other forms.

Of course, that would never happen with something along the lines of Law & Order. As you've pointed out yourself, when people get tired of a particular form of entertainment, they move on to something else. If only that trend ran through comics.