Media on repeat?

As everyone is aware, the Government is still shutdown because of continuous debates and a standoff between Republicans and Democrats.  I read an article today about the subject and there is clearly still a political stalemate making the US Governmental shutdown continue.  The BBC noted in the article that for the first time in weeks the Senate held direct talks for the first time.  My question for this is why did the Senate not do direct talks earlier? 

In addition, the media, of course, has continued their coverage of the issue but one needs to ask, does the medias coverage and information help or worsen the communities ideas of the subject.  The media outlets keep information flowing about the government shutdown just so the community will stay informed about what is going on; however, many of the articles I have read have the same information with just a couple new political stances or statements from politicians.  This new article on BBC about the Senate opening direct talks was the first article, that I have seen, that has completely new information on the subject.  This problem may be because the Government has not made any moves that are notable towards lifting the governmental shutdown, but I know it is also because of the medias trend.  I find that this continuous repeated information through the mass media hinders the publics opinion of the media. 

Have you noticed media outlets, during an issue, continue to promote the same information over and over and over again?