General Discussion

It's the fear of losing access to the "political insider" bubble.
When the GOP decided that to be politically viable, candidates had to be lockstep with the party leadership, equal access disappeared.
The GOP practices winner take all politics by stereotype, there can be no nuance, and certainly no individuality.
Not counting the political leanings of the Media investors and ownership, the Media itself depends on access.
And if the reporters and journalists that provide "the news" are comfortably lazy pretty script readers, they're not going to jeopardize their celebrity and access doing something stupid like pointing out truth, consequences, or even just asking difficult or follow-on questions.

They know they can talk to Democrats. Hell, they can badger, challenge, or insult them, and there will always be Democrats ready to talk to them.

But they have to conform to talk to Republicans, so they play along with the GOP narrative.