I’ve worked in journalism for 25+ years and been employed by three of the four major media companies.
Mainstream media is not necessarily left or right; it is corporate. Media bends to the demographics that can bring in revenue.
If it wasn’t apparent before 2016, that election stripped any façade of journalism being separated from the business of media companies. Everyone benefitted from Trump’s antics and they rode stories about them all the way to the bank.*
You would think only “right-wing” media would have benefitted from the Trump campaigns and presidency, but the death of the fairness doctrine made it easier for these media companies to target siloed demographics — left and right — and feed off them.
There was also a seismic shift in newsroom mentality when media companies downsized and went with cheaper, inexperienced journalists and editors. A great deal of the industrial knowledge accumulated by veterans was never appropriately passed on to the new generation.
Also: Too many journalist see themselves as personalities and brands because of the potential financial benefit outside of the newsroom. This has been exacerbated by social media influencer culture. It is hard to be impartial when you insert yourself into the story.
That said, there are good journalists out there who are not looking to do anything other than report on interesting and important matters. Unfortunately in the current media landscape, it can be very tough to filter signal from all the noise.
* not a political statement; simply an observation on how, regardless of leanings, media corporations exploited high ratings.