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It seems like these days, it's all driven by clicks for views (i.e. profit from advertisers) or pushing an agenda with all these "opinion" pieces. Even the non-opinion articles are leading you to a conclusion that they want you to have.
Nobody straight up reports news without any bias these days.
The first newspapers, in the U.S. and elsewhere (colonial days and earlier), were published and sold for the purpose of spreading the opinions of the publisher. They often threw in news articles to get people to buy them and read them - a practice that continues to this day.
Just as, today, most TV shows are aired for the purpose of getting people to watch the commercials.
The news didn't "stop being the news". Because it never started.
The slippery slope of news began decades ago, but a slow decline has been accelerated by the internet and current political polarization. I give most "credit" to the declining education system, so "journalists" no longer seem to have much competence or any ethics or much objectivity. News has become entertainment.
Want something more objective and more news than entertainment, my favorite is the Economist. Not perfect, but better than most in my opinion. On the other hand, if all you want is "news" that supports your point of view, don't bother. They "try" to show both sides of an issue, which is ... being more objective.
When did news stop being news: When the networks moved the "News" department to the Entertainment division.
This old article from 1999 is very illuminating on the transition of "News" to "Entertainment". While this predates the current troubled state of politics and the nation, it is useful to see how the transformation started.
Unfortunately, the writer's conclusion was never realized: "If history holds true that audiences in the long run gravitate to quality, network aspirations will not be enough. The networks will need to take the risk and time to invest in quality."
This is a long article, but worth reading to understand: "The Transformation of Network News"
Oh long before that....When Clinton lied to the FBI about 'I never had sex with that women' and the press either ignore it or down played it making Lewinsky look like a fool. Also don't forget Gennifer Flowers and how Hillary cast her off as trash. But after a $850K settlement.....
I read about the press protecting presidents, as far back as Roosevelt and his alleged affairs and we all know about JFK affairs.
It started being opinion oriented during another era when the country was fragmented by controversy over the Vietnam War and just grew after that. Growing up in the early 60’s nationals news from the networks were 15 minutes long with no opinions offered.
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