Much that goes on in politics, the government, and corporate America can potentially fall under the rubric of "public affairs." What political scandal, product recall, or lobbying effort doesn't have an interesting public communications aspect to it?
This wealth of potential stories gives a reporter whose beat is public affairs plenty of options when it comes to choosing stories to cover. Certainly, scandals are fun.
Interesting, too, are those big bucks contracts that public affairs firms sign with foreign governments ...