The 538 OP is saying that the mainstream media (MSM) has been over simplifying the college admission process. Yes. Ah, since when has the MSM let the truth co

The 538 OP is saying that the mainstream media (MSM) has been over simplifying the college admission process. Yes. Ah, since when has the MSM let the truth complicate a good, simple, formula-fiction style story? Or the MSM needs to pay the bills, which with the Internet has gotten more difficult. Then, sure, to pay the bills, grab eyeballs for ad revenue. How to grab the eyeballs? Grab the readers with the sure-fire technique for getting and keeping the attention of an audience, discovered already by the ancient Greeks, that is, by formula fiction. So, the content is a take-off on formula fiction, not passing out solid, important information about reality. In particular grab the readers by the heart, the gut, or below the belt, always below the shoulders, never between the ears. Grab them one of these three ways, and their eyeballs will be sure to follow! So, in formula fiction, there is a protagonist, that is, central character, the reader is supposed to identify with. Next, the protagonist has a problem, enough to get us concerned enough to keep reading. So maybe there is a threat, maybe from some scandal. So, we're into scandal. Uh, we're into the E. Fromm human anxiety from the human realization that we are vulnerable to the hostile forces of society -- callous college admissions committees seeking $10 million donations. Then, with high irony, we have 538 writing about the scandal of the MSM writing about the scandal of the college admission process. Hmm .... If readers have not yet figured out much of how the MSM works, then before they assume that they can trust the MSM to be factual and objective sources of information and, thus, get manipulated, they need to hear a more skeptical, realistic, and appropriate description. And the MSM manipulations can also descend into propaganda: Some of the propaganda can be paid. And a media source can pass out propaganda because they can, thus, attract an audience that likes to see their view of the world, the one given in the propaganda, the same as their own -- such readers feel better seeing the agreement. So, when the media sets aside facts and objectivity, we get manipulation, readers with unnecessary anxiety, and maybe also propaganda, some of which can be dangerous. "More formula fiction, Ma!"