Is The News Media Competing with Tabloids Nowadays?

A while back news used to be informing, its entertainment value was next to zero; news reporters and 'Anchors' stuck, for the most part, to the facts.  Stories were checked diligently for facts and veracity, before they were printed.  Reporters were respectful towards people they interviewed for their stories; they asked serious questions without being a crusader for one political party or the other.

Today when reading or watching the so-called news of today, one cannot escape the feeling that the newscasters/reporters are more concerned with making a name for themselves by asking, in their opinion, hard and though questions underscored with aggressive, and often insulting demeanor on their part.  The once respected news outlets are today no better than the many supermarket tabloids; their aim is to preoccupy and entertain the masses with gossip like stories, while promoting the political agendas of the media owners.  Too many times stories are created without any facts, just to get even with whoever took issue with their reporting of a story, or event. Internet research shows, the majority of Americans do not trust the media; this trust erosion is not new, but trust is at its lowest now, as reported by a number of polls.

There was a time when readers and viewers would not stand for this nonsense, but in an era when many of us can be convinced that wearing jeans torn, and having large holes are fashionable, this bygone discrimination, apparently, no longer exists within too many of us.

 "When you mix fiction and news, you diminish the distinction between truth and fiction, and you wear down the audience's own discriminating power to judge."
–Bill Moyers

These pictures, shown below, were taken at a better department store in Las Vegas 10/22/2017; these items were not inexpensive.