I'm not so sure that golden age ever really existed. It was the height of the mass media, and because of this objectivity and the consensus were interchangeable

I'm not so sure that golden age ever really existed. It was the height of the mass media, and because of this objectivity and the consensus were interchangeable, and no one was held much to account for their inability to comport with reality. The internet gave the layman all the tools they needed to do their own followup on what they were told, and to access new perspectives about it. That's when cracks started appearing.