The information age has brought us more knowledge than ever before, including, potentially through the media: if you know where to look. But you have to be a savvy media consumer.
These days, there is a bespoke media outlet for every type of political persuasion. Regardless of political orientation, every news outlet -- with the exception of the small handful of the not-for-profit or publicly-funded ones: PBS, NPR, C-SPAN, etc. -- is similar in that they have to pay rent and they have to pay their reporters. So they compete for eyeballs, attention, and the accompanying ad revenue.
If you go onto Facebook, its carefully-calibrated algorithms will track your every "like" and even mouse-click in order to serve you exactly the content that lights up your pleasure centers. ImgFlip has a similar, though more rudimentary, system for serving you bespoke memes on your own personalized frontpage.
So if anything, I think the danger these days is in consumer self-segregation: Getting into a comfortable bubble that nothing can penetrate. To guard against that, I advocate reading widely and exposing yourself to as many media outlets and opinions as possible.
Looking at this chart, I typically try to stay around the center. I'll venture out as far left as MSNBC and as far right as Fox News, though I won't stray much into the fringe media beyond that, as you'll typically find a lot of garbage and you'll just waste your time.
