A few years ago my work required me to travel. In the evening I would watch local news report. I spotted something I did not understand at the time.
There were segments were the local anchor would interview someone. The problem was, I seen the same story in another area. Same questions, same answers. I then realized I was not seeing the two together. It was a taped interview and the local anchor was just reading from a script.
I read later that these stories were made by third parties and given to the local news stations to present as their own.
I don’t know who was producing them or if the practice still goes on (I stopped watching local news years ago) but it is not hard to guess that the stories were created to get one point of view presented to the public. In my mind the local stations were being dishonest by not letting the viewer know that they did not produce the story, and letting them know who did.
There are all kinds of ways to lie. Main Stream Media knows them all, and does it.
Heard that the radio did/does it frequently in interviews with singers and bands.
Check out how much government revenue via “legal ads” your local weekly paper gets, and then think again just how “independent” it is.