...the "problem", at least as I understand you to be defining it, can't be fixed, nor, arguably, should we try to fix it despite the issues you point out.

There are literally millions of opinions out there as to what constitutes important "news", which I guess is another way of saying what constitutes "reality". People aren't going to agree on the importance of various news stories/info-flow for the same reason they don't agree on whether Chinese food, Italian food, French food or cheeseburgers are better or preferable.

We're all individual consumers with different tastes, values, etc., and news consumption is no different than other products. Some people think a trial verdict in Georgia is more important than looting in San Francisco, and some people think the opposite. Ironically, one could argue that neither is important in the sense that they don't affect anybody's life except for the principals in question, so why is any of it "news" or reality?

I think you have to look at news media as businesses just like Coke and Pepsi. People who prefer Coke to Pepsi are no more living in "reality" than people who prefer Pepsi to Coke. They are both living in the reality of their consumption preferences, which is both fine and inevitable.

Corporate media has established itself as a business to make a profit by catering to certain interests. If you want to consume right-leaning news/commentary, then Fox has the product you're looking for. If you want to consume left-leaning news/commentary, then you have virtually every other corporate news source there to serve you. If you want to consume everything, then you can do that, too -- there is literally an unlimited supply out there provided essentially for free. And so consumers get what they want.

Big picture, this dynamic isn't changing, nor should it change, IMO. It's a risky situation for our society, I suppose, but it's arguably less risky that the alternatives. It's like the old saw about democracy being the worst form of government except for all other forms of government.

[Post edited by Los Angeles Hoo at 11/24/2021 11:21PM]