The twenty-four-hour news cycle contributed a second difficulty.
There was, potentially, too much material.
One issue a week would probably be manageable.
Take a couple of days to figure out the details of Ballantyne's response. Figure out a setting where an interlocutor bails him up and then sit down to thrash out the detail.
I would probably need two, three or four days to polish off a single piece.
In the meantime, the news cycle would have thrown up any number of other stories that could warrant a response or reaction from Ballantyne. Some would be talking points promoted by the Coalition government that deserved an answer.
Others would be issues the government would prefer to consign to space under the carpet.
Such matters would be even more deserving of attention.
That mightn't be a problem in a collaborative situation. A team of writers might be able to handle the quantity of possible material. An individual? No chance.
Then there was the question of what happens after a piece appears out there.
Ballantyne's response to any issue would probably produce some reaction.