Your examples are all based in times of local news sources not large global news sources. In the times before the internet all communication was local, and all

Your examples are all based in times of local news sources not large global news sources. In the times before the internet all communication was local, and all pushback was local too. It may have looked one way, but counterpoints were made locally. Almost all cities had multiple newspapers that had slightly different takes on events. Now in the age of global news and the internet, counterpoints need to be made in the same medium.