I had a different meaning of the phrase in mind - I meant like in a video.
"Now, my opponents would like you to think I hate all guns, and want to get rid of them. But that's not true!"
With the kind of context editing I was referring to, that can easily become:
"I hate all guns, and want to get rid of them."
But yes, when we trust a journalist to cite unnamed sources, yes, of course, we lose much of the context. And if over time it turns out the news source has a bad habit of covering the news poorly, we should stop giving them attention.
"Now, my opponents would like you to think I hate all guns, and want to get rid of them. But that's not true!"
With the kind of context editing I was referring to, that can easily become:
"I hate all guns, and want to get rid of them."
But yes, when we trust a journalist to cite unnamed sources, yes, of course, we lose much of the context. And if over time it turns out the news source has a bad habit of covering the news poorly, we should stop giving them attention.