I am skeptical of the idea that western media - specifically the so-called "news" organizations - are consciously doing anything other than chasing revenues. Editors know that their audiences aren't interested in anything more than empty sensation. Context is boring and so must be omitted. Whatever seems most likely to grab eyeballs for a few monetizable moments is what editors and those working for them prioritize, because ads must be shown and revenues generated to ensure those lovely bonuses. As a result, it's far easier for liars to get coverage because lies are usually sensational and simple. Truth is often far less sensational and always more complex. Ordinary people hate complexity; they want the intellectual equivalent of a double McSlop burger with extra coronary disease on the side. And so that is what they get.

Editors, proprietors, and journalists don't care about the toxic consequences; the entire system revolves only around generating revenues by the most efficient method possible.

If ordinary people didn't want mental slop the situation would be different, but people are people and so....