In my opinion, preparing reports to media and contacting MP are unlikely to change anything such as processing time. CIC always do things at their own pace. It's similar to working with a lazy senior co-worker who is at a company prime position, has seniority and authority, and he/she doesn't care about any progress or deadline on projects, always dodge his/her responsibilities and ignore conflicts.
I predict that 20 months is the minimum processing time considering the delays that CIC already have, any further delays will add on top of 20 months. It is not impossible that old CEC processing time will extend to somewhere similar to live-in care giver processing time, 36 to 48 months.
The July to October applicant's progress until now, which is 12 to 16 months after filing, is no more than past applicant's progress after their filing of 2-3 months. 12 to 16 months now = 2 to 3 months in the past.
Should we re-apply under EE? No one knows the answer coz EE is new process.