> I can't ask a journalist for more details or check their work. I don't know how well they translated the niche knowledge required to understand the story for public consumption.

I only follow outlets and journalists whose thoroughness and thoughtfulness I know and respect.

Following an RSS feed for a blog also means you can click into the links and see comment threads for any article, so it's not any different. And Google Reader (PBUH), had social tools integrated into it as well so it isn't even a foreign concept to RSS.