Thanks for compiling all those sources.
Well I'll quickly reply to this media thing just because I think I did such a bad job of explaining myself. I didn't mean to insinuate that I don't read a wide array of sources. I don't trust any of it, really, though. To aid in this I've created two diagrams.
View attachment 52282
Ok, so in the first diagram I've jotted out a super basic template for the mainstream media delivery system. One of the qualities of the mainstream media is that it often reads like a press release. In those cases, it's probably a press release that a source has dispatched, so on. The mainstream media is a vast consortium that seems to be motivated by ad revenue and subscribers, donations, stuff like that. The mainstream media sensationalized trump and kept the energy at a fever pitch for years. I don't think it had much to do with journalism. This consortium is the mouthpiece of an oligarchy.
Here's another diagram:
View attachment 52281
Ok, so you can see here I've added some steps for reactionary news media. The model here implies they assume you've heard something from mainstream media. A lot of the examples you've provided, SOTTREADER, resemble this model. Lots of refutations of so-called commonly held positions. "Oh, they want you to think mRNA vaccines are safe." "Oh, they tell you you have to wear a mask, but guess what, they aren't even designed to keep out the virus." "Here's the scoop on the CEO of such-and-such that the mainstream media is trying to suppress." So on.
Sometimes, reactionary news media is gunna be holding the mainstream accountable. Sometimes, it's gunna be pure reactionary straw-grasping. They use different sources or they pick experts who have wildly different interpretations. All of that flows through a bias of their own. Reactionary media, generally, isn't the tool of oligarchs, but often they're owned by firms economic agendas, money in oil and gas, what have you. Not all the time.
So there's a part of this I've left out for dramatic effect. In both diagrams we have the media consumer's bias. You know what makes my head spin? All this pageantry and hot air that goes into the production and counter-production of the "news," only so that it can land at the feet of the media consumer who truly has final say. I'm sure you've all noticed this. Media consumers are, in general, not won over by force of argument. They have already selected which slant or narrative they're ready and willing to accept. Where does that leave us?
Consume all media and triangulate the truth. It's a nice idea, and it's the sort of thing you'd really need a whole forum of folk to deconstruct. I'm wondering how many of us remain skeptical as consumers rather than gravitating to the stuff that fulfills our bias. When it comes to what car to buy or what tv show you like, this isn't such a big deal. When it comes to interpreting covid policies and getting factual information about what works, what doesn't, which statistics are accurate, on and on - I'm sorry, I don't believe that's possible.
Accept that this system is designed to manipulate, not empower, and embrace the fact that we mediate and condition which information is welcomed into our minds. In my opinion if you want to empower yourself, you have to back up from this matrix of distortion and see it for what it is - a matrix of distortion. Meanwhile, you can remind yourself that if you run into a virologist in a line-up and ask him if sunlight cures covid, no matter what he says, you're going to judge his answer and weigh it against what you think you know.
Confirmation bias isn't new. Sometimes it can be overcome. I have serious concerns about dedicating myself to uncovering objectivity from media corporations, let alone because I, myself, am biased. Beginning this journey with trusted sources in mind is, in my opinion, starting an extremely dubious journey on the wrong foot.
But there's good "news!" We don't need to be correct to good choices. We don't have to be correct to be safer. You are you. You know what's safe for you. It's a situation you trust and it's a feeling you feel. And thank goodness for that, especially in the case of covid.