This about sums up the state of the national media
Glen Lyons of Salon describes the state of the national media:
The average citizen hardly knows what to believe anymore. Due to the parlous state of professional journalism; the Internet; cable TV "news" networks and talk radio shouters; and the ceaseless din of the right-wing noise machine, the public is daily confronted with make-believe news, doctored quotes, fake history and phony data.
In my opinion, Lyons has it about right. Most people I know don't want to spend immense amounts of time picking through the "news" to figure out what they should actually believe. Out of fatigue and frustration, they tend to lock on to one or two sources of information, despite the fact that most media sources are not motivated to be trusted as sources of information. Rather, based on what they are actually reporting, and how they are reporting it, they are primarily motivated to make money. Hence, Tiger's affairs get much more coverage than critical national issues and contentious sound-bites are offered to us instead of careful analysis of issues. [more . . . ]