Traditionally, it's been extremely reconcilable. News agencies had a responsibility to be more accurate than not. The government itself keeps a very hands-off approach to that information flow, and the people reward papers that succeed with subscriptions and eyeballs. This detente is why the media has traditionally been referred to as "The fourth estate."

Unclear what the solution is as that system breaks down because the subscription-free ad-fueled Internet dwarfs the traditional model.