Charles Kesler:
“…This self-satisfied faith in its own ethics and expertise inspired the mid-century media establishment. Although most of the old media titans continue to exist, they no longer dwell at the heights; they wade, along with many others, through the murky, slow-moving “mainstream.” To their shock, neither technology nor politics has supported their pretensions.
President Trump exploits that vulnerability with his criticism of “fake news.” He accuses them not merely of making it up, that is, of getting the facts wrong or concocting “facts” to fit their bias, but also of inventing the very standards by which to conceal and justify their abuses: the fake authority of “objectivity,” nonpartisanship, and progress. They are as partisan as journalists were two centuries ago, but can’t, or won’t, admit it, which means they can’t begin to ask how to moderate themselves. In truth, they may be as much self-deluded as deluding.
President Jefferson suggested that the newspapers of his day would be improved if each issue were divided into four sections, headed Truths, Probabilities, Possibilities, and Lies. He predicted that the first section would be the shortest. It would be an interesting experiment in our day, too. The First Amendment guarantees the press freedom, not respect. That has to be earned…”
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/08/08/faking_it_137751.html