This is a key reason behind my discomfort with social media. The algorithms that seem unresponsive to clear signals of intent was the last straw. Ended up leaving YouTube over the incessant push to new channels and ragebait shit.
Anyway, lemmy might be a cesspit at times, but its a cesspit I can choose/not choose, to engage with, and thats some nice anti-monopolisation of my online experience in the design.
Journalism’s not dead. The fact of the matter is that people don’t want to read journalism, they want propaganda and tabloid; if this wasn’t true ProPublica would have the readership that the Sun does.