I would quibble with the sentence, "And it's not about bias or ethics." The owners of WAPO and NYT beg to differ. The corporate press is in the business of sucking up to the Dear Leader. Look no further than the ABC settlement and the CBS consideration of a settlement. What little free press left is independent and off the beaten track.I was noticing the same thing when I looked earlier. And it speaks to something I've been noticing much more recently. The quality of reporting, even from top notch sources like the NYT, is in an absolute freefall. I read a ton of articles yesterday about Trump's imminent TikTok executive order. Almost none of them mentioned the most important fact of all -- Trump has NO LEGAL AUTHORITY to extend the time for TikTok to be sold, or to waive the fines that are mandatory under the statute. Almost every media outlet reported the story as if Trump's EO could just kick the can down the road. Did no journalist bother to look at the actual statute?
Of all the many things that have me concerned about the next four years, the traditional media's rapid decline, to the point of complete ineffectiveness, is at the top of the list. We no longer have a real fourth estate. And it's not about bias or ethics. It's about effectiveness. The news is just not getting reported anymore.