Imagine if people were more skeptical towards NYT when they were knowingly publishing false war propaganda by Judith Miller. We might have avoided the war against Iraq.
I have known a few journalists and my impression is that the profession attracts sadistic narcissists.
The narcissism allows them to justify their sadism as some sort of "higher cause" in the interest of "journalism."
It's a low-pay and low-status occupation, yet many have convinced themselves that they are important to "democracy" - which is ludicrous, as virtually all modern journalism is simply transparent partisan propaganda.
Tech journalism is nearly just as bad, but at least many of them seem well aware their real job is simply advertising products for their sponsors under a false pose of objectivity.