That's an idealized but incorrect version of the news industry. We know that news companies work with PR firms to publish ads as articles. The "suit" PR that i

That's an idealized but incorrect version of the news industry. We know that news companies work with PR firms to publish ads as articles. The "suit" PR that is famous here. http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html We also know that news companies sometimes kill or refuse to cover sensitive stories that might reflect poorly on their benefactors or their politics. We know that the news companies attack social media as being toxic while demanding preferential treatment on the platforms they say are evil. I don't think we should view anything industry or government with rose colored glasses. The forces of money and corruption are felt just as much in the news industry as it is in every other industry and government. But I agree with you that as long as the message gets out, it is a net benefit to society. It is better The NYTimes exposes privacy concerns even though they themselves violate their customers privacy. We don't live in an ideal world so we should hold everyone to an unattainable ideal standard.