What's interesting and problematic is that it is exactly that kind of faith based ("reputation") belief that is causing such a split between the "alt right" new

What's interesting and problematic is that it is exactly that kind of faith based ("reputation") belief that is causing such a split between the "alt right" news and the other news. You might take it for granted that e.g. Washington Post, CNN, etc should be trusted but your primary reason for doing so is their age and historic pedigree. Their anonymously sourced stories sometimes don't pan out, and there's seemingly no consequence for them when that occurs. So what's stopping people at the far right from sitting around all day poking holes in these publications anonymously sourced stories that people believe based on faith, and then holding up their own drudge (Breitbart, Fox News, etc) as equivalent? That's what allows alt news to flourish. It is something a lot of people seem to miss. If you believe a specific piece of news based on Reputation, then that's no different from the "alt news" folks believing a different piece of news based on Reputation. Reputation is in the eye of the beholder after all.