Listen, every single time I find a piece of information regarding tech in general (often security, cloud or IPOs), whether it’s TV, papers or the internet, they’re wrong on something because the journalist didn’t care about being thorough. This is just about tech because it’s my area of expertise. Now why would I believe that it’s not the case for every single field besides tech? Why would I believe journalists are thorough regarding politics, economics, health, energy? I don’t. That’s why instead of reading journalists pieces, I follow experts I trust on the fields I care about, whether it’s on Twitter, TikTok, YouTube or whatever. And why do I trust them? Because if they know what they’re talking about, they have rock solid sources which is what I expect and that I don’t find in mainstream media. They believe they are the source because they say so, but it’s not how it works.

You are kidding yourself if you think mass media is even close to accurate. If not by anything else you should be convinced about this by how easily mass media copied completely false "news" they found on the internet.

You could call them on their BS then only because you have internet too. When it comes to other sources mass media do no better job. You just can't see that easily how crappy they are in approximating the truth.

Mass media isn’t “close” to accurate (something is accurate or not), it’s just more close, on average, than entertainment-oriented news (which includes Daily Kos and Breitbart alike).

Cable news is also entertainment-oriented. All media revolves around engagement, which now typically plays out through appeals to identity or maintaining heightened states of anxiety. Yes that includes your ABCs, CNNs, and MSNBCs.

I’ve noticed people who only watch “real news” tend to have very homogenous anxieties and information about the state of the world that is rarely the most pressing or complete view.

Yes, that is true. For example, if you just read mainstream media, you will not see how the meatpacking jobs have all gone to illegal immigrants in the last 20 years.

Or more realistically, the Alabama miner’s strike that has been going on for four months without a peep on he networks.