The press hasn’t changed. Remember Iran-Contra?
The Clinton administration spearheaded the new, emboldened, partisan media types. The constant focus groups, yarn-telling, half truths and such made the media much more adept at it is all. Also, the boomer generation with its hippy dippy anti-war/anti-establishment credos rose to their nadir in the past 15-20 years and are now the senior editors, top reporters, and writers for all the DBM.