It says more about the media -- in a short-sighted quest for ratings and quarterly reports -- stops doing journalism and starts being a vector for political click-bait.
Even just the Halo-effect of ridiculous claims being requoted verbatim is huge, even when followed with rebuttals.
Is it just the quest for ratings or is it outright advocacy for a position? (Probably both, but...)
It seemed (to me) to be that for Brexit and for the US Presidential election, the majority of the media outlets, the editorials, the analysts and the poll pushers all had a preferred outcome and were going to shame your character/honor/morals/intelligence if you didn't fall in line with their brand of right-thinking people.
Did you not also find that to be the case?
And, if you do, don't you think that the media (over time) is squandering any power-through-position it may have accumulated by this outright advocacy?
Even just the Halo-effect of ridiculous claims being requoted verbatim is huge, even when followed with rebuttals.