It is no secret that some use news outlets to sway public opinion.
Taking everything you read with a grain of salt allows you to rewrite information into a reasonable, more likely story. But I believe the longer we openly listen to streams of false information the more likely our minds are going accept it.
News systems must earn money to survive, but earning income through advertising and other means is becoming more difficult. Thus news groups are more likely to create stories that benefits themselves some other way, such as by the outcomes or possible favors.
Examples One: News Affecting Bitcoin's Price
Someone recently claimed that China was tightening capital controls around Bitcoin. But some are questioning the source of this information. It is possible China would increase such controls like they did in 2013, but fear of such a response and actual governmental action are two different things.
Maybe Bitcoin is being used to evade capital controls in China, but the similarities between Bitcoin price and Yuan decline may simply be an expected correlation. Bobby Lee suspects little capital leaves China through Bitcoin. Consider this. Capital leaving mainland China is around 70 to 80 Billion, while Bitcoin's entire market value is around 10 to 11 billion.
Later it was reported that Chine leaders are 'studying' measures to limit cryptocurrency outflow through Chinese exchanges. The bottom line is that the original story may have been a biased attempt to temporarily lower Bitcoin prices.(Edit: Of course, I do not know the motivations, validity or source of the original tip, but respectfully observe that there seems to be patterns of negative and positive news influencing Bitcoin price.)
Example Two: Bias against Presidential Candidates
Many streams of media have been attacking the newly elected Trump. One conservative outlet suggests that liberal journalism is to blame for unfair bias against Trump, but this article also seems a little biased against Hillary.
Despite this disguised—or perhaps unconscious attack—I agree with them that much of the media is too biased. Even if not, many people from both sides believe the media was skewed against Trump this election, and journalism's credibility may be in question.
Another problem is that traditional journalism is seeing competition from less accountable sources. Some internet outlets or supposed journalists have been circulating false stories about both candidates or fake news in general.
But people are still willing to pay for great professional journalism and hopefully many will gravitate to these reliable sources.
Decentralized News
News outlets such as Steem also have the challenge of distinguishing the false from the true. Since writers are paid there is motivation to gain popularity and perhaps authenticity. I believe getting a good name and reputation is still very important.
Maybe eventually the money will go to those few, both on and off the internet, who can truly be trusted to give accurate news. This may be a group on a decentralized platform or it may be a company of the free market.
What We Can Do
The best thing we can do is to educate our minds.
I consider being a well-balanced intelligent person the main ingredient for interpreting information and news correctly.
We can read old and new books, have face to face dialogs with other humans, and notice how others interpret events. We can train our minds to recognize the boring and usually-unchanging truth of how things work. We can allow ourself to be influenced while influencing others, which builds trust.
We can find excitement in little but significant things around us, such as nature, everyday people, work, and opportunities to help.
As we see the good in other people, we may begin to recognize the self-interested nature of business. Evolution often favors a kind of self-protection, which when expanded to groups and companies, may result in hurtful behaviors.
For example we should recognize some companies will charge you the most they can before it somehow becomes disadvantageous to themselves. A salesmen may be slightly dishonest to you, to make a sale. As long as it's not too bad, others may let it slide and they wont be fired.
This is kind of how wild nature and competitive markets work. I personally believe business can be done honestly and with goodness, but that self-interest often pushes for less thoughtful actions. This self-interest sometimes translates into skewed information.
Talking with friends, coworkers and local people can enlarge our thinking and help us recognize the simplistic opinion-swaying ways of powers that be.
What Else
Other than self-development, we can work on and support systems that reward unbiased information. Google News has learned to give me only somewhat biased sources, but I personally recognize specific news groups as more trustworthy.
We can recognize when we are being influenced largely by a small pool of sources. We can study foreign cultures, religions and philosophies. We can be careful of news sources that promote themselves. Any humble person or group recognizes their own lack of knowledge and need for balance.
Any group that continually attacks another may be biased. This is expected from politicians and lobbyist, but even these know when to sit down with other people and talk sense.
Conclusion
This article seems boring to me, but here you go. Widen your sources and friendships. Seek to understand those different from yourself. Distance yourself from slander, flattery and dishonesty. Beware of how money is involved. Seek something higher than yourself. Then I think you will be ok.