> And the better alternative is...?

Actively researching both sources and stories, and not being a passive consumer who expects someone else to spoon-feed you a solution.

You have the time to dredge up sources and check their veracity every time you read an article? Often sources are private but verified by the journalist. This is why journalism exists and has a code of ethics. You can’t just look every claim up on Wikipedia.

I'm talking about your sources (i.e., media outlets), not an articles sources.

Definitely not worthless. Also OP makes a good point at the end:

> The thing is that to be able to tell the different takes effort in educating yourself.