I think the larger problem is the decline in critical thinking in this country. Many people can no longer tell news--facts and demonstrable reality--from that which is not news--speculation, editorial, opinion, pseudoscience, superstition, and flat-out fabrication.

Some people's horseshit detectors are broken, and others never had the fuckers installed properly to begin with.

Some of this we can blame on a school system built from pure shit. You can't teach a person to think and apply what he or she knows or learns if you're teaching them to memorize what might appear on a standardized test.

Still, what do you say about people who went through our schools BEFORE that became standard operating procedure? Who were around for the Fairness Doctrine, and before network news divisions were changed from running at a loss as a public service to being adjunct to the network entertainment divisions?

There are people who remember how things used to be, and almost all of them voted for the Cretin-in-Chief.

I think much of this stems from the fairness doctrine no longer being enforced. Rather than news being considered a public service necessary for the renewal of of a broadcast license, it is now monetized and part of the entertainment division of the major networks.
It’s competition for viewers, rather than an honest attempt to inform the citizens.
“If it bleeds - it leads”

Sometimes I think the news outlets are just trying to outdo each other. I can only take the stuff in small doses.

You guys need another amendment to your constitution to prevent this from happenning again with Drump and should have something similiar here also

Personally, I am sick of the news just reporting what peopel , liek Trump, says, without ever doing any investigation as to what is beign said is actually true or not. It is little more than tabloid reporting (gossip) dresssed up as actual information. You may as well have pepoel like P.T. Barnum or Jerry Springer as news anchors.

seems that at least half of every NEWS programme is now speculation about 'what may happen if'

In the UK you can replace Trump for Brexit. Overall, anxiety leans towards people becoming exhausted with the problem.
With Trump, he continues to make mistakes that cannot be accepted by a world leader, yet he brushes them off with a simple statement 'Fake News'. He refuses to face or at appears not to understand the facts. He recently denied making statements about Meghan Markel, the Mayor of London and Micheal Gove. Gove could be the next British Prime Minister!
Somehow he has weathered being a very poor businessman and is applying the same methods of failure to your country.
To address the speculation in the news. Western news media is more to do with entertainment than facts, and like in a movie, situations need to be settled in 120 minutes or so. The true fallout of Trump (or Brexit) will not be known for at least a decade. This is because they are unknown quantities. Even George W. Bush followed the rules and conventions of a POTUS.
Did you know that the present that H.M. Queen Lizzie was a book? Next time they meet, she should quiz him on the contents.

I listen to NPR lately and limit viewing unless a progressive that gives me hope

You mean news stories, right? Yes, speculation is going beyond the bare facts. If we don't learn from the news there is no point other than to be momentarily entertained I suppose. People do need to think for themselves but they often need a kick start to explore what the implications of the days' news could mean to us and our society.

I have to read the news...I get physically ill when I even hear him speak...if I do watch anything, I do it in closed-captions...but then, I can't stand seeing him either...

So, yeah...tired of it all, but still need to keep up and be ready to call or write my congressman...

No shit very tired of his smoke and mirrors distraction

I wish they would impeach him and get it over with. We need to fix hi bs as soon as possible.