Don't dismiss sheer incompetence just yet. I was forced to dump Newsweek in 1964 (thereabouts). The trend was there and the last straw was a story on how people living on social security were "starving" because they could only spare $26 per week on food. I felt sorry for a few minutes. Then I realized my wife and I were spending less than half that rate on food and eating very "high on the hog": Filet Mignon cookouts at least once a week, and lots of other (relatively) expensive foods. Had we needed to scrimp by we could have gotten by on $5 per week. So Newsweek's story was completely bogus and meant only to propagandize about Social Security.
I claim they are biased because they are both poorly educated and poorly informed.
normally, I'd bank on dumb, but the coverups and stonewalling after the "errors" suggest a less innocent cause.