I've told this story before, but things only have gotten worse since then.
Eighteen or so years ago, our editor at the newspaper said we all should go to the conference room to meet the dean of the journalism school at WVU (she's since moved into some other job). She wanted to give a little talk. Wow, what an honor!
So we small-town reporters and reporterettes gathered 'round the table to listen to her. Only one thing she said stuck with me, and I don't mean in a good way. She said the job of the J-school was to train budding journalists how to shape and influence opinion. She did not say it was to train them to write clearly and concisely or to report the news accurately and without bias.
She said (and here I paraphrase) journalism schools exist to create new propagandists.
I looked at one of my fellow reporters as both of our mouths dropped open, and we just shook our heads.