Some folks are unable to distinguish when main media plants a story or they have no clue when important news gets outright omitted. A network’s man or woman at the White House or Pentagon type report is one example of the public getting fed news.
Also, consider how main media was complicit with the Clinton Campaign during the early primaries by providing intense coverage of Clinton and Trump (see Wikileaks) but hardly any coverage of Bernie Sanders who concentrated on actual issues and filled major league sports stadiums widely across the country, this while Clinton drew thin crowds and shied from press conferences. Remember how super delegates were treated by the media as won delegates and how when the exit polls were dropped this got very little public attention.
What to watch for with today’s media? Lies, distortions, omissions and perversions of truth!
What, therefore, is the best way to get solid information?
Follow Twitter accounts of investigative journalists. Determine what they, and their colleagues, write about. This will provide you links and leads on where to do further research. The main media has become so bad I view it now only when it's excerpted as a reference, or taken from a news trending column.
When Reagan took office there were 50 major media companies. Today, only six (they're trying for five) corporations control 90 percent of all media in America. Budgets to investigative journalism have severely been slashed, repeat/copycat reporting has become the norm and advertising/marketing rules over the public’s genuine right to know. Also damaging to the public is the major publications eliminated their ombudsman (a people watchdog-like advocate). Traditionally, an ombudsman critiqued a journal’s manner of reporting, whether it used fair standards and presented opposing points of view.
This, combined with political campaign spending as obscene and profitable as it is, the media now control news rather than comprehensively covers it. How else, without help from the media, could members of Congress hold a 10 to 20 percent approval rating but maintain a 95 percent re-election rate?
Naturally, with expanding internet access, social media exploded with alternative news reporting sites. Main media, avaricious in its hunger for profit, above and beyond journalistic standards, began labelling many social media sites “fake news.” Today, censorship abounds! Truth be known? Many are; but many are not. But the reality shows that it's the smaller social media sites which actually digging deeper, especially important issues the monopolized media completely ignores.
Censorship has today assumed many ugly forms:
It’s up to you to distinguish the difference!
Referenced verification becomes the quest for true knowledge. We each must: Adorn the Truth!
Below is a list of investigative journalists and social media perspective shows. I respect their research and the communications they share among colleagues.
If you do not have a Twitter account you should open one and click “follow” to each name below or whomever you feel will provide you with important information. If you follow their daily Twitter postings, you’ll never need to read a daily newspaper or watch the nightly news or Sunday morning pundit-fest. It still helps, however, to click Facebook or Twitter trending columns for leads. Doing this will enable you to keep up-to-date and, most importantly, you’re likely to get highly informative more accurate information with no spin!
Investigative Journalists & Analysts:
Serena Shim (RIP), Julian Assange, John Pilger, Pepe Escobar, Robert Fisk, the Late-Robert Parry, Richard Wolff, Amy Goodman, Chris Hedges, Seymour Hersh, Noam Chomskey, Glenn Greenwald, Greg Palst, Abby Martin, Oliver Stone, Lee Fang, Shaun King, Justin Raimondo, Nafeez Ahmed, Bill Moyers, Jamarl Thomas, Vanessa Beeley, Robert Sheer, Paul Pillar, William Blum, Jeremy Scahill, Rania Khalek, Juan Cole, Lee Camp, Sarah Stillman, Jesse Ventura, Mike Whitney, Elizabeth Vos, Benjamin Dixon, Patrick Cockburn, Gareth Porter, Naomi Klein, Sybil Edmunds, Carl Bernstein, The Saker, Ralph Nader, Tim Black, Ben Norton, Max Blumenthal, Paul Jay, Michael Moore, Norman Soloman, Eva Bartlett, David Sirota, Jimmy Dore, Randy Credico, Aaron Maté, Eric Zuesse, Paul L. Williams, Adam Carter, HA Goodman (on non-Trump subjects), Webster Tarpley, Thom Hartmann, Gerald Celente, Mike Papantonio, Alex Christoforou, Tyrell Ventura, Matt Taibbi, Maureen Dowd, Ben Swann, Ghassan Kadi, Mark Crispin Miller, Peter Kuznick, Charlie Pierce, Garland Nixon, James Fallows, Caitlin Johnstone, Luke Rudkowski and David Kay Johnson. One must also credit George Webb who, right or wrong, keeps on digging! I also like the creative edge of Defango.
And, of course, there are many others.
YouTube independents ans shows offering interesting wide-ranging perspectives:
Redacted Tonight, The Jimmy Dore Show, Telesur, France 24-English, Al Jazeer-English, RT, The Moderate Rebels, Asia Times Online, RT-CrossTalk, RT-On Contact, The Progressive Soapbox, Moderate Rebels, Veterans for Peace, Wikileaks, Empire Files, Ring of Fire, Moon Over Alabama, Watching The Hawks, We Are Change, The Real News Network, Newsbud, HA Goodman (on Clinton & Wikileaks updates) Humanist Report, Secular Talk, Democracy Now, Lionel Nation, Brave New Films and when fantasy meets reality nothing beats Stan Lee’s Marvel Comic research staff.
One of the best interviews I’ve seen: 
[NOTE: I’m sure there are many others. If you know a journalist or a perspective show you think should be included, please note in the comment section and I’ll check ‘em out -- thanks!]
Good luck, folks!