That would apply if there were honest, inevitable biases, and the journalists and editors were striving for integrity. However, in a situation where they are at best not very good, and at worst they are trying to manipulate the public opinion en masse, how can you use that kind of data? Isn't it garbage in, garbage out, no matter what your process of synthesis may be?

In the good old days of the Soviet Union, we could "read between the lines", because the censorship system was not very effective, and the journalists were pissed off. But we still failed horribly at understanding what the world looked like west of the border, and imagined capitalism was some lesser form of paradise, and were quite surprised when we had to start living it.

Personally, I am weary of reading people who I know try to manipulate me. I always suspect if they try hard enough and long enough, they may succeed. What is your method, and does it work?