A century before the "fake news" brouhaha, clickbait web links, and the 24-hour TV news cycle, the scourge of yellow journalism plagued the newspaper industry. Its hallmarks included sensationalist headlines, exaggeration, a shortage of good sources, and an excess of scandal-mongering. Facts were spun to meet the agendas of the editors, and many articles were outright fabrications. Major newspaper publishers competed in their pursuit of the lowest common denominator. Of course, this is relic of the past, long dead outside the wild and reckless frontier of the internet, right?
The paragraph above is from a post entitled Fake News and Modern Yellow Journalism I wrote on the old chain on Jan 2, 2017. The news has been used to deceive us into wars since at least the Spanish-American War, and actively opposed every slight reduction in belligerence since the start of the so-called War on Terror. I would argue the problem has been made far more obvious since then. It's deeper than the deep state, more of a pandemic than COVID, and absolutely dedicated to preserving the status quo.
The mainstream media has embedded itself as a part of the political system, and as such, is our enemy. All pretense of neutral adherence to just the facts, ma'am is like a flaking Victorian veneer in one of 
Be careful, kiddos. Don't believe everything you see on the internet, not even the self-proclaimed fact-checkers. People seem to have forgotten what science is over the last 18 months, so remember: What can prove your ideas wrong? What is your standard of proof for your own claims and for the claims of others? Do they differ? Can you entertain an idea you oppose long enough to seriously explore its evidence and ramifications? Or do you just rely on the word of politicians and their pet journalists as gospel?
*Please forgive my reference to your cool content in my rambling rant!