I think it's worth saying that the fourth estate is also falling prey to the changing economic landscape of the times. It's not like the old days anymore where

I think it's worth saying that the fourth estate is also falling prey to the changing economic landscape of the times. It's not like the old days anymore where access to publishing tools was heavily gated. Everyone fights for eyeballs now. Everyone fights to be first. The growing result is that we're seeing more and more news organizations gravitating towards providing a specific kind of narrative tailored to their target audience. People in general don't want to have their views challenged. That approach is tiring as you have to fight through your own cognitive dissonance each time. Rather, they want to hear what they believe to be already true. This is why Twitter and other social media companies drive us towards echo chambers. It's how they keep people coming back, and thus make themselves more appealing to advertisers. It's easy to talk about the duty of the fourth estate, but writing a well balanced narrative does not pay the bills these days.