Thanks. At our ages, my wife and I have noticed we don’t remember things as well as we used to so it is hard to tell if the news from the last decade SUX or if we are misremembering real news coverage from the past.
I hear ya there (I'm almost 73).
> ...so it is hard to tell if the news from the last decade SUX or if we are misremembering real news coverage from the past.
I think there are (at least) two factors in play. First, the lies the news media throws at us these days are much more blatant than in decades past; now they're utterly shameless liars. And second, the rise of alternative sources (primarily the internet) has allowed us to recognize the bias and the lies much better.
In retrospect, the TV news of the 60's and 70's was full of falsehoods, too, especially regarding the Vietnam War, drugs, politics, corruption, etc. But we didn't have much to compare and cross-check it against. Walter Cronkite was God's Own Spokesman, and he told us The Truth, or so we believed.
Now? I trust nothing from the media or the government. I believe nothing they put out. Prior to the rise of AI, the lies were largely human-generated. Now with AI, machines crank out lies at a rate no one can fathom, much less absorb and evaluate. If I try, I can imagine how this ends, but it ain't pretty.