Journalism has gone down the crapper, plain and simple. Not that it's the deepest topic, but Deflategate has tons of simple examples. News outlets are littered with pseudo-articles mixing facts and rumor and editorials jumping to judgment based on things the authors just assume. They're really more like tabloid fodder, for example I just saw this article this morning. Nice stock photo. It's entirely unrelated to the facts at hand, but it's going to stick in some people's minds and they'll be left with an image of obviously flat footballs. Without laces.
I want there to be an accreditation agency that certifies the general quality of a news source, looking for things like clearly separating fact from opinion, and making sure that facts are checked. Large infractions would damage the reputation a lot. For example when Fox perpetuated the claim that there were Muslim-controlled "no-go zones" all over Paris, going so far as to show a map, or when a TV station reported that the Asiana 214 flight's crew were named Sum Ting Wong, Bing Dang Ow, Wi Tu Lo and Ho Lee Fuk, in both cases based on a single tip that could be easily researched, they should be put on immediate probation.
Anyone not earning accreditation can't call themselves news. They are media, like "Fox Media Outlet" and "Cable Current-Events-Based Media Network" ("CCEBMN" doesn't sound as crisp as "CNN", does it?).
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