They know that. The journalism cartel - the AP and its membership, and any and all other wire services and their customers - operates on the premise that "journalists are objective.” If so, then “there’s nothing to see here - just move on.” For if so, the journalism cartel - with its unanimous voice declaring what is news and what isn’t - defines the public interest.The only problem with that narrative is that it just isn’t so; it is an astonishment to me to think how many decades I took that for granted. Fundamentally, all journalists know that they are on the lookout for bad news which casts society in a bad light (and thus, promotes the conceit that we need more laws and more government). But if journalism is negative, and “journalists are objective,” that would imply that “negativity is objectivity.” And that is a proposition which only a cynic could could take seriously.
Equally, “journalists are objective” takes objectivity to be a state of being rather than a difficult discipline. If “journalists are objective” then journalists don’t even have to try to be objective.
Worse, “journalists are objective” puts journalists in a bind: actual objectivity is hard, man. But there is an easy out - journalists can “go along and get along” with each other. Which is what they do - and why the real meaning of “journalists are objective” is, “journalists are unanimous.” Unanimous not only about how any given story is slanted, but - very importantly - about what is news and what isn’t.
“The media” is utterly corrupt. And it shows - for anyone with the slightest skepticism in them.