This is a fabricated PR piece to gin up "excitement" over the new upcoming Cleopatra film.
All news today is a lie.
That's the missing link for this non-story.
Free media hype.
“All news today is a lie.”
Sadly, you are correct. We watch numerous classic movies beginning in the early 1930’s. Often there are stories about newspapers. From what I’ve gathered reporters have always been jerks. They probably did much more honest investigative journalism, but it was always sensational too. And the editors wrote opinion pieces and edited stories to suit a particular agenda.
What I see as different today is that like you said, all of it is a lie and they really don’t care if anyone calls them out or not. Journalists today are totally without honor.
“The Rise and Fall and Rise of Zahi Hawass”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-rise-and-fall-and-rise-of-zahi-hawass-72874123/