The media decline started over a decade ago with the transition from the physical publications to online.
It turned out, the limited space and the delay of printed issues forced the editors to prioritize. The newspapers were competing on quality content. With the advent of the attention economy, the model changed to competing for the strongest emotional response, so the newspapers split into rivaling camps, churning out low-quality online publications made to enrage people, while selling their attention to the highest bidder on the ad market.
I hope people will eventually realize that their attention has become a commodity [0], and will start watching it better. If most people are smart enough to not give away their money to the first person asking for it, we can find a way to do the same with our attention.