decided (or declined) to report on, how much time they dedicated to a story, etc. The biggest problem now is the speed and breadth at which information travels. In the digital age mainstream media faces conflicting objectives. They need to be fast reporting news but they also need to be as accurate as possible and those two things are at least somewhat mutually exclusive particularly when it comes to breaking news that is still unfolding. So you end up with traditional outlets making errors (or simply having to report what they know at the time) which critics then use to assail their credibility and discredit them altogether. On top of that social media and other social connectivity has made it to where anyone with any sort of view no matter how fringe or niche can find other people out there that believe the same things. And that allows them to see that they are not alone and the fact that other people believe it allows them to reinforce their own confidence in their beliefs. This has led to an explosion of fringe media (or "alternative" media) that exploits those people's need for validation while also further undercutting their confidence in mainstream media.