That assumes they once were..................

"But the news as an institution in a very real sense has ceased to exist.  The media elites, like elites everywhere, are driven by a fever dream of undoing the outcome of the 2016 election.  They desperately want the status quo before Trump back, and are willing to bash away, Trump-like, at their own standards and even the democratic process in pursuit of that aim.  I don't see how it's possible, from a posture of radical reaction, to reclaim the ideal of the news media as an honest broker of information."

-Martin Gurri,  The Revolt Of The Public