Henning Beck describes to the point what I mean by fact-free opinion journalism:
“What if we are actually on the way to a post-scientific society: a society in which personal feeling becomes more important than rational argument? In 2019, a major study by the US think tank Rand Corporation evaluated how information was presented in the main media (print, TV, online) over the past decades. Result: Since 2000, information has been explained less and less fact-based. Instead, subjective experience reports are used to support an opinion. The exact opposite of what is crucial for smart behavior (both personally and politically) is happening. The argument replaces the explanation, subjectivity becomes more important than fact-based presentation. As a result, the study speaks of a ‘Truth Decay’, a loss of truth in the media representation of events within the last two decades.”
– Henning Beck in his book “12 Laws of Stupidity – Thinking Errors that Prevent Reasonable Decisions in Politics and in All of Us”, Econ Verlag, Berlin 2023