I was in the tv news business for 10 years, many years ago.
The lazy tv news producers literally took their stories from the daily papers– clipped them out and xeroxed them for everyone– no original reporting whatsoever. The audience didn’t care, as it was less work than having to read the papers. Plus, pretty girls in cocktail dresses and men speaking in grave tones about things you were supposed to care about. It’s so quaint to see this charade is still exercised, though less egregiously.
The tv news managers went out of their way to avoid pissing off politicians and sponsors; the station managers and sales people were extremely sensitive to anything that affected their numbers. News directors obsessed over the Nielsens, which today look like nothing more than guesswork.
I was friendly with the company accountant at the time; we’d ride the train together. He once told me that the business was 100% profitable– they earned twice their expenses. I’m pretty sure that’s no longer the case.
Not sorry to see biased news die off.
Many of us suspected that was how Walter Cronkite did his "show prep" — straight from the NYT every night.