The press has long ago abandoned any pretense of doing the basic requirements for an actual press.
“Who, what, when, where, why, and if known how” fell by the wayside to be replaced by soundbites and clever editing.
And as far as the press being the hound of the people against all politicians, they are lapdogs for politicians.
The corporate media has had a massive Leftist bias for as long as I can remember. I distinctly remember my dad pointing out just how biased they were back in the 70s.
They used to lie and deny it. Occasionally some of the more honest ones would admit that OK, its true that the vast majority in journalism were Left leaning Democrats, voted and contributed that way, BUT said they had professional standards which ensured objectivity.
That too was false, but admittedly, most did at least try to respect a certain code of professionalism and journalistic ethics.
That went completely out the window in 07 as soon as Obama appeared. They started all but fellating him live on air and did not stop for his entire time in office. The mask completely slipped and they no longer even tried to hide it. Everything became about their narrative rather than actual facts or events. They got away with it and did influence the public for a while but people gradually figured it out which caused everybody but - shock shock - Leftist Democrats - to lose all trust or confidence in them.....which caused their audience share to tank. They’ll never get that back.