I would also say many of the settlements from news organizations are them sucking up to Trump. They chose to pay in private agreements instead of fighting frivolous lawsuits that would easily have been won. That’s a way of paying the bribe while claiming you’re just setting a lawsuit.
I don’t find the New York Times to be of much use either — their view from nowhere approach serves to normalize extremism and they’ve been happy to platform attacks on vulnerable minorities as well.
https://archive.ph/NKJnY
(A comment I saw: "You have to understand, Bezos is down to his last $250 billion.")
https://www.natesilver.net/p/the-sad-and-self-inflicted-decl...
Notably in Trump I the WaPo catches up to The New York Times in influence and in Trump II it falls off.